Lords of War
by jazzpha
Summary: AU. Naruto Namikaze is a soldier in the Konoha Clan of Yakuza, one of five major families in a criminal underworld dominated by murder and ruthless ambition. Old grudges and sins soon resurface, bringing the promise of all-out war with them.
1. Naruto Namikaze

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does. This story, however, is mine.

**Lords of War**

**Chapter 1: **Naruto Namikaze

* * *

Naruto Namikaze was just having one of those days. In an ideal world, he would be able to take his favorite Beretta out onto his house's backyard target range and blow some ragdolls to smithereens, but unfortunately he wasn't at home right now. He was at school, and had to deal with motherfucking Statistics class.

"So if the Distribution is considered normal…" Iruka-sensei's voice droned on, but Naruto had long-since tuned out his teacher and had set his eyes on something far more interesting.

Sakura Haruno, to be specific.

The lithe, yet ridiculously strong spitfire of a young woman captivated Namikaze to no end, with both her looks and no-bullshit attitude that was incredibly refreshing to see in this festering pit they called a school. Not to mention that her father, Yoshitsune Haruno, was also one of the biggest gunrunners in the region and supplied the forces of Konohagakure with a sizeable portion of their military-grade hardware. Of course the old man had taken great pains to keep this secret from his little princess, who only knew her father as the steel baron he proclaimed himself to be in public. Which wasn't a complete lie, either: it was just that the _type_ of steel Haruno sold was more suited for killing people than it was for building office complexes.

And as much as Naruto wanted to tell Sakura that one of his favorite guns was Haruno-made by Yoshitsune himself and wasn't that just the coolest thing she'd ever heard, the young Namikaze knew that the gun lord would have him castrated by nightfall for leaking his secret. Not even Naruto's high standing in the Clan of the Hidden Leaf would keep him safe from a wrathful father, something he knew all-too-well from having seen his friends' parents in action on occasion.

Forcing those thoughts from his mind with a shake of his head, the blue-eyed class clown blinked and resumed his sightseeing. Work stayed at home; that was Rule Number One. For now, it was time to lose himself in a little shameless indulgence. His brow furrowed darkly, however, when Naruto saw that Sakura was looking at another friend of his with a gaze even more desirous than the one he was giving her. Gritting his teeth and forcing back a snarl, Namikaze fought hard to keep from jumping up in the middle of class and strangling Sasuke Uchiha right then and there.

For the life of him, Naruto didn't understand the bizarre infatuation that every girl in the Senior year class seemed to have with Sasuke. Kiba had joked on more than one occasion that anyone who had that much opportunity and never capitalized _had_ to be playing for the other team; there just wasn't another logical explanation. If he'd returned Sakura's advances, maybe Naruto wouldn't have been so furious, but seeing him squander her painfully obvious interest was like watching somebody take a case of one million yen and set it on fire.

"Naruto, eyes to the front!"

Iruka's annoyed voice derailed the blond-haired Namikaze's train of thought with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but right before Naruto was forced to cover for his distraction with some outrageous gag he was saved by the bell.

"Don't forget to turn in your presentation outlines on Friday!" Iruka's voice called out after the swiftly-departing class. The reminder did wonders for Naruto's melancholy: Sakura was his partner, meaning that they would have to meet up at some point before the end of the week to plan out their project.

Maybe the gods didn't hate him so much after all.

As he walked out of the door, the blond-haired young man was quickly flanked by Shikamaru Nara and Neji Hyuga. The pair had become his unspoken bodyguards over time; the son of the fallen Fourth Hokage rarely went anywhere without protection, especially not after what had happened to his parents. Naruto himself had almost died the night of the assassination, which had left scars both physical and mental. As a result, both the re-instated Hokage Sarutobi and Naruto's foster father Kakashi Hatake had insisted that the young Namikaze never be allowed to wander alone.

While Naruto found this concern to be more than a little warranted and actually kind of touching, just because he was the 'Crown Prince' of the Hidden Leaf Clan didn't mean he was immune to feeling claustrophobic.

"You can two take the rest of the afternoon off," he said easily. "I'm gonna go pay Kakashi a visit."

"We can walk you over there, Naruto…" Shikamaru began, but his blue-eyed friend cut him off with a look.

"I think I can walk three blocks without someone gunning for me, Shikamaru. Seriously, I know it's orders and all, but you two don't need to be my shadows. Go to the red light district, or something. My treat."

"Charming as usual, Namikaze," Neji said with his usual smirking disdain, and a mirroring smirk soon spread across Naruto's face. "You couldn't bed a whore if you offered to buy up her contract."

Naruto's smirk turned dangerous and somewhat feral, but his voice was still joking.

"Let's see if you're singing the same tune once I get my hands on Hinata."

The change in Neji was immediate and total, the usually calm young nobleman and warrior suddenly bristling like a challenged wolf. He began to bark out a string of highly-descriptive vulgarities describing the pain he would put Naruto through if he so much as serenaded his kid cousin, but Namikaze just laughed it off like a hyena as Shikamaru forcibly dragged his friend away. Sighing as he blew out a calming breath, Naruto turned the other way down the street and ambled towards Kakashi's bar.

* * *

"Oi, pops," the teenaged soldier called out as he entered the well-lit bar and grabbed his usual seat, "get me a double Cuba Libre, and make it fast!"

"_Someone_ sure is feeling imperious today," Hatake Kakshi observed dryly as he turned around to face his most regular customer with paternal concern in his eyes. "What's the occasion? The Man gotcha down?"

"Something like that," Naruto grumbled, head in his hands as his elbows rested on the bar. Kakashi's eyes narrowed slightly as he glanced down at his adopted son.

"You wanna talk about it, Naruto?" the white-haired man asked with unusual softness, but the young Namikaze just shook his head. Shrugging resignedly and knowing that Naruto could be as reticent as his biological father when he wanted to be, Hatake accepted that he wasn't going to get anything out of Naruto right now and busied himself with making the rum and coke.

He may have seemed like nothing more than the proprietor of a reasonably-successful bar, but Kakashi Hatake was, in truth, much more than that. The bar was something he owned and ran as his own little haven from Clan life: when the demands of the Hidden Leaf became too much to deal with, Kakashi would delegate his official work to Maito Gai and abscond down to the bar for a while. The warm chatter of the clientele beat listening to the Third Hokage and that old worm Danzo bickering any day of the week, and every so often he'd overhear a particularly useful piece of information.

When he was 'on the job', though, Kakashi was one of the Hokage's most trusted and feared soldiers. Hatake hid a born killer's instinct behind his aloof exterior, and everyone knew it. Finishing up preparing Naruto's drink, he wasn't at all surprised when the kid across from him took a sip and balked almost immediately.

"What the hell, pops?" he exclaimed. "I asked for a double, not this weak stuff!"

"Word came down this afternoon, Naruto," Kakashi replied calmly, slipping into the commanding voice he used when discussing business. "the Old Man wants to you go on a mission tonight, and I'd rather you not be stumbling over yourself when he debriefs you."

The blue-eyed Namikaze grumbled, but said nothing as he sipped his drink with more venom than usual.

"It's about Sakura-chan, isn't it?"

Naruto was about to shoot back a sharp denial, but from the moment his hand trembled and the glass stalled just before his lips he knew he was busted.

"So what if it is?" he asked lamely, cringing inwardly at his own patheticness while Kakashi fought to bite back a chuckle. Naruto had killed people with guns, knives and even his bare hands in fights to the death, and he _still_ couldn't figure out how to talk to this girl? Then again, Hatake reconsidered thoughtfully, if Sakura was anything like her father _or_ her mother, Naruto had good reason to be apprehensive around her.

"Nothing," the barkeep said casually with a shrug, not wanting to have this conversation again. "Just forget I said anything, finish your drink and we'll head home."

"Thanks, Kakashi," Namikaze said wearily as he killed his beverage with a sharp sigh, rising and waiting for his guardian to walk ahead of him before following.

* * *

"Naruto Namikaze," the old Hokage's voice echoed powerfully in the small room, "do you understand the particulars of your mission?"

The young man's blue eyes flashed with determination, and he nodded sharply.

"I do."

"Very well, then," the Third said with stern approval. "Pick your three companions for the mission and move out as soon as you are able."

"Understood!"

Naruto walked briskly out of the Hokage's office, excitement pulsing through his every nerve. It had been a while since he'd had a solid mission like this one… he was really going to enjoy blowing off some steam.

"What's the word, Naruto?" Kiba spoke up, and Namikaze gave the hunter a feral grin to rival his own.

"Looks like some upstarts have been trickling in from out of town and trying to set up shop on our turf. Gramps wants us to do some recon, and maybe bring a few of these bastards back for questioning while we're at it."

"Sounds like fun," Sasuke commented in an almost bored tone, chambering a bullet into his pistol. "Maybe they'll put up enough of a fight for me to get the rust off of this thing."

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Shikamaru said dryly from his spot leaning against the wall by the door. "Gunfights are too troublesome to be bothered with, you ask me."

Akamaru barked in excitement as his master checked his own weapon one more time, the four soldiers finally ready to roll.

"Let's do this," Naruto said with his usual cocky ease back in place, all thoughts of the green-eyed Sakura-chan fading from his mind as he stepped out into the cool, moonlit night and towards the quartet of motorcycles that awaited the Hidden Leaf warriors, eager to carry them to their targets.

* * *

**A/N:** So there's Chapter 1, ladies and gents! Hope you enjoyed it; please review and let me know what you thought. I have a pretty big plotline laid out for this story, so trust me when I say it's not just going to be a high-school style story. There'll be characters featured from all over the Naruto Universe, and it's rated 'M' for a reason.


	2. Snakes In The Grass

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, or its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does. This story, however, is mine.

**Lords of War**

**Chapter 2: **Snakes in the Grass

* * *

The four Konoha soldiers weaved effortlessly through the blaring, garish nighttime downtown traffic, staying within eyesight of each other at all times and constantly on the lookout for an opportunistic rival gangster in the wrong place at the right time. Naruto had long since ceased to be awed by the blinding display of vibrant neon lighting that announced business ranging from restaurants to casinos to the occasional cleverly disguised brothel, but he still couldn't keep from laughing at the rush this kind of traveling always gave him. There was something about being able to say "We run this city" and actually _meaning_ it that would never get old.

And when someone tried to prove that statement wrong, Naruto got very, very upset. And when he was upset, well… it didn't end particularly nicely for those stupid enough to provoke him. Soon enough the four warriors broke through the crowded main street and out onto the fringes of town, where word was those renegade wannabe gangsters had staked their claim to a bit of Konoha's land. Stopping about half a mile outside of the warehouse that ANBU had reported was their base of operations, the crew dismounted and began to make the rest of their journey on foot.

"So how many of these fuckers we dealing with?" Kiba half-growled impatiently, itching for a good brawl or gunfight. Akamaru was right there with him as usual, posture tense and eyes alert. He might have been docile when he was just around his master's friends, but the hound had a jaw like a steel trap and had torn off his fair share of extremities in his time.

"My guess is anywhere from 15 to 20 grunts," Shikamaru answered seriously, now in full-on strategist mode, "and that's not counting the three in charge. If I had to guess, they're Otogakure."

"Hidden Sound?" Sasuke broke in, arching an eyebrow. "Didn't they only form up a few months ago?"

"That's part of what worries me," the tactician replied. "To make so bold a move so soon, they're either stupid or have a ton of powerful connections. And the fact that they're starting out on the periphery like this rather than doing something showy rules out stupidity, that's for sure."

"But who would back these jokers?" Naruto piped up. "Starting a war with us would be crazy, especially for some rookie punks like these."

"It doesn't matter if it's a genius or an idiot pulling the trigger, Namikaze," Sasuke rejoined. "A bullet still does the same amount of damage."

The blond-haired soldier just grunted, ceding the point to Uchiha for now.

"Whoever's pulling the strings," Kiba said sternly, "I'm sure we can make one of these piglets squeal. And if we can't get the job done, I know Ibiki-san would just _love_ to step into the interrogation room again."

"Enough chatting, guys; get ready," Naruto broke in urgently, the maturity he hid in public rising to the surface as he chambered a bullet into his weapon of choice. "We're here."

* * *

Four figures stood on one of the highest catwalks in the warehouse, cloaked in shadows for the moment.

"You three do your jobs, and stall the extras," the one who was presumably the leader said in a calm, slightly condescending tone of voice. "I'll meet with the snake."

"For being his technical subordinate, you really don't seem to respect our spy, Kabuto-sama," the female of the trio, Kin, opined. Kabuto chuckled hollowly, the rising moonlight glinting off of his glasses.

"The man who gave him that rank is not in any position to affect immediate change," the calm warrior replied. "Orochimaru-sama, on the other hand, most definitely is. Until that changes, I answer to Orochimaru-sama: not to that little rat."

"Fair enough; fair enough," Kin said hastily, not wanting an angry Kabuto on her hands. The mysterious soldier with the silvery-white hair just chuckled again, though, his previous anger gone in an instant.

"Just as long as you three don't go getting any illusions of grandeur," he said smugly, smirking. "It looks like the rodents have arrived a touch sooner than expected… get going, and don't disappoint me."

Dosu and Zaku, the other two members of Orochimaru's advance guard 'Sound Three', grimaced but nodded nonetheless. Quickly rounding up their detachments of grunts, they settled in for a pitched firefight. Kin followed suit shortly after, and soon enough the Hidden Sound soldiers had occupied almost every advantageous spot in the old building. The warehouse was crisscrossed by countless steel walkways and staircases, making it an ideal sniper's nest. Kabuto retreated deep into the shadows, waiting patiently for his chance to make contact with the mole in Konoha's army.

* * *

"How's it looking, Shikamaru?"

"Not good," the ponytailed strategist grumbled under his breath as he looked through binoculars into the warehouse's windows. "They've got pretty much every line of sight covered. We're gonna have to go infrared on this one."

"God damn it," Kiba cursed harshly. "You know those fucking things screw up my flow, Shikamaru. Why the hell'd we bring these wussy-ass smoke bombs anyway, and not the real artillery?"

"Because the last thing we want to do is bring a ton or two of dilapidated steel down on our heads when the explosions loosen the supports," Sasuke said evenly, securing the goggles over his head and a mask over his mouth to keep the smoke at bay until it dispersed.

"Tell me why you guys aren't using rifles?" Kiba asked Shikamaru and Naruto, trying to shift attention away from himself. "Those pistols'll do jack-shit against these goons."

"It goes to my head," Naruto said tersely.

"Never sacrifice precision for quantity," was Shikamaru's answer, and the hunter shrugged it off.

"Enough standing around," Uchiha broke in with his signature tone that was perpetually bordering on condescending exasperation. "Let's get this over with."

The four soldiers advanced as one, priming and throwing their smoke bombs through the door. This done, they waited a few moments for the acrid cloud to spread out and for the chaos to spread before charging into the hornet's nest. All hell promptly broke loose, and if it hadn't been for the infrared goggles friendly fire might very well have been a reality. Sasuke and Kiba took point with the high-powered weaponry, swiftly eliminating the nearby ground-floor enemies before starting high up with the snipers and working their way down while going from cover to cover as it presented itself.

Naruto and Shikamaru followed in their wake, using the suppressive fire to their advantage and picking off the panicking grunts one at a time. The Sound soldiers had clearly gotten overconfident, and now it was costing them. The Konoha quartet also knew that these guys were just cannon-fodder, though: the true assassins were using them as glorified shields, waiting for the initial burst of gunfire to die down before making their move.

And sure enough, as soon as the clips from the high-powered guns hit the floor a chorus of sharp, precise gunshots sounded out from the shadows just as the smoke began to clear. The Konoha warriors had taken more than a few grazing shots during the first exchange of bullets, and their bulky goggles had made easy targets. The pieces of equipment were now either quasi-functional or totally busted, and Naruto's squad found themselves back to square one.

"Sounds like there're three of 'em," Shikamaru called out over the din of the shots. As if on some cue, a figure emerged from the shadows and stood fully visible in the moonlight for a breif moment. The man paused just long enough for the light to glance off of his glasses, before beating a hasty retreat towards the fire escape exit and heading outside.

"I'll go after him," Sasuke declared, leaving no room for argument as he charged after the fleeing Hidden Sound soldier. "You guys clean up this garbage, and don't take too long."

"Damnit, Sasuke, don't break formation!" Kiba hollered after the back of his running comrade, but the plea fell on deaf ears.

"That dumb son of a…" he growled, before being forced to duck behind cover again as another round of bullets whizzed past him.

"Your friend doesn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed," Zaku's mocking voice rained down. "You ask me, it's good he decided to chase after Kabuto. He'll end it quickly."

"Shut the fuck up!" Naruto shouted, letting loose with a volley of bullets and using the sound of his enemy's words to guide his aim. Smiling viciously as a pained grunt reached his ears, Namikaze emptied the rest of his clip in that direction and was rewarded with an echoing _thump_ for his efforts. He paid a price for breaking his own cover, though, taking a bullet in the shoulder a second later.

"Zaku!" the voice of the frantic female who had wounded Naruto called out, keying Shikamaru into her location. "You bastards!"

"God, these amateurs couldn't be more troublesome," the strategist half-moaned in annoyance as he used the increasingly bright moonlight to pick out the glint of gunmetal and calmly firing off three cold, precise shots in that direction. "What a senseless waste. Is this really all they've got?"

"Don't underestimate us like that, you little shits!"

The trio's sense of victory was promptly shattered by the snarling voice coming from right behind them. Swiftly turning around, Naruto and Shikamaru saw that _Kiba_ of all people had been snuck up on. Now Dosu, the last of the so-called 'Sound Three', had a long knife hovering over the Kohona warrior's throat.

"You killed my friends, you gutless bastards," the increasingly unstable soldier spoke harshly. "It's only fair that I let you experience how that feels!"

Before the knife could slice through the flesh beneath it, though, Kiba whistled sharply. A white blur streaked into the room and slammed into the Sound soldier, dislodging the knife enough for Kiba to elbow Dosu in the gut and complete the take-down.

"Good boy, Akamaru," he said happily, and the hound's eyes gleamed with predatory satisfaction as his jaws closed around the prone gangster's leg to keep him immobile.

"You let him sneak up on you like that, didn't you?" Shikamaru observed dryly as he realized what his friend's primitive stratagem had been. "You've gotta be kidding."

"Can't have all the fun myself, can I?" Kiba shot back, giving his furry best friend a pat on the head. "Akamaru needs to get some action in from time to time, or he'll go soft."

"So, what do we do now?" Naruto asked, and Shikamaru answered as soon as he'd stretched his back out and sighed.

"We wait for Sasuke to finish tracking down that last guy," the strategist said, "and then we haul this loser back to the compound for some quality time with Ibiki-san."

"He's certainly taking his damn time," the hunter grumbled, while Naruto just shrugged.

"It's Sasuke," the blond-haired soldier said. "I'm sure he knows exactly what he's doing."

* * *

"I hope this intel is worth it, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto said casually as soon as the two were alone under the moonlight. "I'm sacrificing a lot of men this time."

"Don't refer to me so patronizingly, Kabuto," the Uchiha parried harshly. "And those sacks of meat in there are nothing more than walking corpses. They were dead as soon as the order came down for us to break up this cell."

"My, my," the silver-haired warrior said as he adjusted his glasses, "you really are a hard-hearted bastard. But we don't have time to waste with this idle chatter; deliver your report."

Sasuke glowered briefly at the frank manner of his subordinate's speech, but knew from the sound of things inside the warehouse that his comrades were making surprisingly quick work of the Three. If he lingered here too long, things could get unnecessarily complex.

"Shikamaru Nara suspects that a larger player is backing the Hidden Sound, and the Third will no doubt heed his words once Asuma backs him. I doubt this will amount to much, however.

"In terms of security around the main Konohagakure compound, it is as woefully lax as it has been for the past few years and should pose no problem to the assault. How go 'negotiations' with the Kazekage?"

"He's towing the line readily enough," Kabuto replied. "One personal audience with Orochimaru was enough to scare him straight. I can't be so sure that his brats are following in lockstep, though, and especially not Gaara. Keep an eye on those three, Sasuke. If they act on their own, this whole plan could unravel in an instant."

"You fret like an old woman, Kabuto," Sasuke admonished, turning around and beginning to head back into the warehouse. "My clansman will not fail; next to him, your precious 'Orochimaru-sama' is nothing more than a flea."

Kabuto grit his teeth and said nothing, the pair of deceitful soldiers going their separate ways as Orochimaru's right hand vanished into the night. Sasuke jogged quickly back over to his friends, feigning the exhaustion of a long chase. He shook his head negatively when Naruto shot him a questioning glance, and Kiba snorted in derision.

"I knew it," he said. "When push comes to shove, the great Sasuke Uchiha is all talk."

Two heartbeats later Sasuke's gun fairly flew into his hand, pulling back the hammer in one smooth motion and firing off a single, authoritative shot. Shocked silence reigned for a moment among the Konoha soldiers, before the surprised trio looked down and saw Dosu holding a gun in his hand, sights pointed directly at Kiba. If Uchiha had put that smoking hole in his forehead a moment later… the hunter didn't even want to _think_ about that outcome as he fought back a shudder.

"Come on," Sasuke said with steely calm as he walked towards the warehouse exit, "let's get out of here."

As the four soldiers sped home, weariness, wounds and the fear of almost losing a comrade trumped their exhilaration at a job successfully done. Sasuke's coal-dark eyes, meanwhile, were as sharp and focused as the thoughts going on behind them.

It was a lucky thing that Dosu had been stupid enough to draw his gun and give Sasuke the opening he had needed to kill him without his friends becoming suspicious. Dead men, after all, told no tales.

* * *

**A/N:** Whew, that was fun to write; I hope it was as much fun to read! Please review and let me know what you thought, it's incredibly appreciated.


	3. Rebels of the Sand

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does. This story, however, is mine.

**Lords of War**

**Chapter 3: **Rebels of the Sand

* * *

"Well, well; look at what the cat dragged in."

Kakashi had the uncanny ability to be infuriatingly smug on demand, and it never failed to get under Naruto's skin.

"Just shut up and get this bullet out of me, old man," the young soldier growled as he took a seat by his white-haired guardian in one of the Konoha compound's many recovery rooms. Sighing as he finally let himself relax a bit, Namikaze removed his hand from the wound. Kakashi regarded the injury seriously for a moment before nodding and giving a short, satisfied hum.

"Looks like it was a clean hit, and it's not infected yet," he diagnosed. "Shouldn't be too hard to remove the slug, but are you sure you don't want to take this to, say, the official medics?"

"I trust you more than those flunkies. Besides, I know you wouldn't trust a common medic with this, either; that's why you were here waiting for me," Namikaze hissed as his arm jerked involuntarily and his wounded shoulder lurched along with it. Hatake gave an almost imperceptible smile, pulled out his handy switchblade, and got to work.

The entry wound itself was manageable, and the bullet had been just weak enough that it had stopped millimeters away from the bone. As Kakashi began to prepare a local anesthetic, Naruto stopped him with a look and pulled out his gun, dislodging the magazine.

"Those drugs make me woozy," he clarified while pulling out a single bullet as the older soldier shot him a questioning look. "Just toss me your flask; I'll take care of the rest."

The white-haired soldier did as his patient had requested, smiling wider than before as he saw Naruto take a quick two gulps from the container before handing it back to him and biting down on the bullet he'd taken out of his gun.

"You're just like her, you know," Kakashi mused thoughtfully as he prepared to extract the bullet from Naruto's shoulder at last.

"Who?" Namikaze asked shortly, and Kakashi got an odd look in his eyes for a moment before answering, as if he was looking straight through Naruto and back into the past.

"Kushina," he replied. "Your mother."

Hatake took advantage of the kid's shock at his answer to begin extracting the bullet, moving in with his implements before Naruto's muscles had a chance to tense reflexively. After a few moments of sharp, stabbing pain, the blue-eyed soldier relaxed once again with a deep sigh as he felt the projectile leave his arm and heard the dull _clink_ when Kakashi dropped it onto a tray.

"That wasn't too bad, was it?" the older soldier asked with exaggerated cheeriness, and Naruto just scowled at him for a few moments before they cracked and broke out into sincere chuckles.

"Thanks, pops," the younger soldier said sincerely. "I don't know what I'd do without you to bail me out."

"Get yourself killed like an idiot, probably," Kakashi replied evenly, and Naruto's dirty look returned in force.

"Thanks for reminding me why I never compliment you, jerk."

"Hey, you asked the question, kid. I just answered it."

"Whatever," Namikaze deferred, staying silent while Kakashi finished bandaging up the now-treated wound. After a few moments, he looked back up at his guardian and spoke.

"You said I reminded you of my mom, pops. What the hell were you talking about? I doubt she ever owned a gun in her life…" Naruto began, but a look from Kakashi told him to be quiet and listen.

"Of course she gave 'em up when you were born, kid," the white-haired soldier began, "but before then, you have no _idea_…" here Hatake trailed off, and he glanced at Naruto with a sly gleam in his eye. "Did you know that it was your father who married into this Clan, Naruto?" he asked, and he smirked at the surprised look that spread across the younger soldier's face at that revelation.

"What?" he half-breathed out. "But then that would mean…"

"Your mother was a Yakuza at birth, yes," Kakashi supplied, the sly gleam in his eye blooming into a positively wicked one. "We all always thought your father was too good a guy for this line of work, but he fell hard for your mother and that about settled it. Him being ex-military certainly didn't hurt, either… oh man, I'm late for a meeting!" he exclaimed as he glanced down at his watch. "Later, Naruto. And don't work that shoulder too hard; I'm not going to stitch it up again!"

"But…!" Namikaze protested indignantly, pissed off that Kakashi had stopped the story right there. His frustration soon gave way to grief, however, as images of his parents' final moments flashed unbidden through his mind. The dry blood on his hands shifted in his mind's eye into the damp, dark liquid that had stained his hands all those years ago as he had huddled over the corpses of his parents, wounded, screaming, and halfway-delirious with pain.

"God damn it…" Naruto grit out as bitter tears fought to break free from his eyes, but he blinked them back fiercely and got up, the chair he had been sitting in sliding back with a harsh moan. Grabbing his gun from off the nearby table, the young Namikaze stalked out of the room with the intention to head towards the shooting range. His shoulder protested with a warning spike of pain, but Naruto squashed it ruthlessly as he left the recovery room behind him, closing the door with a slam.

* * *

"So, how many days you think we have before our loving father decides to try and have us all killed again?"

"Stop being so damn morbid, Kankuro," Temari scolded her younger brother sharply before sighing to calm herself and taking another sip of her tea. "It's not helping."

"Still, Kankuro makes a valid point."

Gaara, the youngest but arguably most powerful of the three siblings, made his thoughts known as his green eyes flared in the dim light. "If we sit around waiting for the Kazekage to make the first move," he spoke in an even, authoritative voice, refusing to call the head of Sunagakure 'father', "we might as well slit our own throats."

"So what should we do?" Kankuro asked his little brother, and after running a hand through his messy red hair Gaara turned his gaze toward his elder sister.

"You're still on speaking terms with Shikamaru Nara, are you not?"

"Shikamaru?" Kankuro broke in with a chortle. "I'd say she's on more than speaking terms with him… ow, Temari! What the fuck was that for?"

The eldest of the Kazekage's children rubbed her sore knuckles while she scowled at her brother, having delivered a hard punch to Kankuro's bicep and thankful that the darkened room hid the shadow of a blush that had spread across her face at the mention of Shikamaru.

"Enough!" Gaara snapped, the sudden spike in his temper enough to cow his older siblings into silence. "We don't have time for prattling," the red haired yakuza continued after a moment, his voice back to its normal, steely calm. "Temari, go to Konohagakure and tell Nara what has transpired here. The sooner the Hidden Leaf knows of our father's and Orochimaru's plans, the better."

"Not to belittle your judgment, Gaara," Temari rejoined in a soft tone, as if attempting to placate an angry lion, "but don't you think it would have more weight if you were to play the role of ambassador, rather than me?"

"If I go, not only will the Kazekage have no qualms about assassinating the two of you," the green-eyed young man justified, "but that would also be too obvious. Not to mention that if more than one of us goes, the Kazekage will no doubt figure out we intend to alert Konoha. You're the only logical choice, Temari."

"I don't see why you're being so difficult, sis," Kankuro chimed in, his tone decidedly more mischievous. "You and Shikamaru seemed to hit it off quite well this past summer when you weren't trying to kill each other."

"I can't stand that asshole," the eldest of the trio parried in a tone somewhere halfway between a huff and a hiss. Knowing he was going to have to, gods forbid, get _emotional_ in order to convince his sister, Gaara's hard jade eyes softened the slightest bit.

"I had hoped that the safety of your kin would have taken priority over your own personal preference, Temari," he lamented with the best approximation of grief that he could manage, "but I see that the oath the three of us took is clearly insignificant compared to your issues with Nara."

Temari's eyes narrowed dangerously as the words of their pact echoed in her mind, the promise the siblings had made to protect each other from their tyrannical, ruthless father by any means necessary.

"That's not fair, Gaara," she replied as evenly as she could, but both Kankuro and his younger brother picked up on the waver in her voice and knew they'd won. Remaining infuriatingly silent, they played the waiting game until, not a minute later, their sister folded with a sigh.

"Fine," Temari said, "I'll be your little messenger pigeon this once. But you two _owe me_. And big."

"Of course," Gaara replied stoically, removing a small folder from the inside of his jacket and handing it to his sister. "Your plane flight's already been booked. We couldn't send you through the family's jet, for reasons I'm sure you can understand."

"You already knew I was going to accept, didn't you?" she asked pointedly, her dark eyes flashing indignantly. All Temari got out of her brother, though, was a smirk that made her incredibly uneasy. Not wanting to spend another moment with the two jackals she called her brothers, the oldest of Sunagakure's next generation of royalty stalked angrily out of the room.

"Be safe!" Kankuro called after her, the insinuation made blatant by his teasing tone of voice.

"Fuck you!" Temari shouted back over her shoulder, and Gaara actually chuckled.

"What an apt turn of phrase," the redhead commented with a hint of slyness, before taking another sip of his tea. His older brother broke out into guffaws at this, and even a warning shot that left a bullet-hole in the wall as their sister snapped couldn't stop the two from laughing.

A couple of hours later, Temari had crossed into Fire Country territory after a heinous flight cramped in Coach. After debarking, passing through security and hailing a cab, she finally decided to take a closer look at the papers her brother had given her. The young woman's eyes widened in horror, and she promptly unleashed a stream of curses so loud and vulgar that the cab driver almost crashed.

Those bastards hadn't put her up in a hotel, and they had known her stipend wouldn't be enough to cover one. Now the choice was between staying in a hotel for the night and starving, or eating dinner before asking a certain someone if she could spend the night at his place.

Forget them owing her for doing this; when she got back home, Temari swore, she was going to kill both of her brothers very slowly and very, very painfully.

* * *

Shikamaru Nara, despite his lackadaisical nature, was an absolute perfectionist when it came to things he loved doing. And there were few things he loved more than a good puzzle, the kind of puzzle he was pondering while he sat in his room and completely ignored his body's increasingly desperate pleas for some sleep. The weekend would come in a few days, and he could hibernate then: this was a riddle that was too odd to just let lie.

There was no way that Sasuke Uchiha, genius or no, could have reacted so swiftly to that Sound soldier drawing his gun if he'd been engaged in a full-on pursuit and hostile engagement just moments prior. Not only the speed of his maneuver, but the evenness of his breath and the lack of any kind of bruise or scrape all raised red flags in Shikamaru's head. Not that he wasn't grateful to Uchiha for saving Kiba's life, but if his suspicions about the incident were proven correct Nara knew that Konohagakure would have a big, big problem.

The strategist's eyes shifted subconsciously to a photograph framed on his desk as he sighed in frustration, and his mouth quirked up into a weary smirk as he remembered the history behind the picture of him and the three Sunagakure soldiers known as the 'Sand Siblings'. That past summer, which had been almost a year ago now, Shikamaru was assigned as the liaison between Konohagakure and the trio of Sunagakure yazuka. They had been put in harm's way by their father's bloody and sudden coup d'etat: the new Kazekage despised Sunagakure's relationship with Konoha, and apparently he hadn't thought too kindly of his offspring's intentions to remain faithful to the alliance.

So Shikamaru, with his keen eye and uncanny ability to sense an ambush from a mile out, had been clandestinely assigned to protect Gaara, Kankuro and Temari. His summer vacation wound up being spent dodging bullets, carbombs and the occasional pack of wild dogs. But the Sand Siblings had survived the spike of assassination attempts, thanks in no small part to Nara's help, and the Kazekage had backed down. After consolidating his power and fathering a new heir, apparently the ruler no longer viewed his first line of children as a direct threat. Shikamaru had his fair share of shrapnel scars from that tour of duty, but it hadn't been _all_ bad.

Because that assignment was how he'd met Temari, by far the most infuriating and puzzling woman he'd ever met. And in between shooting, shouting at each other, getting shot _at_ and occasional adrenaline-fueled post-firefight screw, Shikamaru had tried to solve the enticing enigma that she presented to him. Unfortunately, by the time he'd been called back home, Nara had only gotten about halfway towards solving that deliciously complex puzzle. The strategist sincerely doubted he would see her again for a long time, if ever; which was a shame, because despite her being so troublesome, Shikamaru had actually grown quite fond of the fiery yazuka princess. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone, of course, no matter how many times Chouji and Kiba pestered him for stories about the time he'd spent in Sunagakure.

A knock on the door of his apartment shocked Shikamaru out of his memories and back to the real world, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up immediately. Grabbing one of his sidearms off of a dresser, he made sure it was primed before calling out.

"Who's there?"

"It's me."

That voice, fierce and commanding but still carrying an undercurrent of almost maternal kindness, could only belong to one person.

_Well, speak of the devil._

"You alone?"

Her signature snort of disdain was the only answer, no doubt insulted that Shikamaru would think she'd not only been captured, but had also given up his address. Unlocking the door, Nara put his gun down and opened it. Sure enough, Temari was staring right back at him, leaning against the doorframe with feline grace.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he spoke first, and the young woman smiled in a way that cut right through his defenses and she knew it.

"I need a place to stay," she answered, her voice gaining a smoky tinge as her eyes narrowed and Shikamaru had to fight to remain still. "I have some important information for your higher-ups," Temari elaborated, moving forward into the apartment while Nara made no move to stop her, "but my brothers neglected to inform me they hadn't gotten me a place to stay while I'm here."

After silently thanking Gaara and Kankuro profusely, Shikamaru cleared his throat and walked over towards his one-time flame. If Temari wanted to play this game, that was more than fine by him.

"You can stay here if you want," he said, "but I'll have you know I charge rent."

"Oh?" she parried coyly. "And what, pray tell, would your rates be?"

"A game of _shogi_," Shikamaru declared with an insufferably knowing smirk, and Temari felt something clench involuntarily in her stomach. _Shogi_ always brought out their competitive sides, which led to multiple rematches and steadily increasing stakes. Those, in turn, led to no small amount of trash-talking, reminiscing, drinking, roughhousing and then…

"So?" Nara prodded, reading the young woman's thoughts like a book and widening his smirk into a smile as he saw a light blush dust her cheeks. Temari wrestled with herself for a moment before that infuriating smile made up her mind for her. She was going to wipe it off of Shikamaru's face, and enjoy every minute of doing so.

"Set it up, crybaby," she challenged, a smile rising on her face to rival his own.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay on the update, but life, as it has a tendency to do, has been slightly hectic as of late. All the same, I hope this update was enjoyable enough to justify the delay, and **please review** to tell me what you thought!

Next chapter is going to deal with the continuing fallout of Naruto and company's mission, as well as the history of the Uchiha. Should be fun, and I hope to see you there.


	4. Occupational Hazards

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does. This story, however, is mine.

**Lords of War**

**Chapter 4:** Occupational Hazards

* * *

"Oi, Naruto!"

It took Kiba snapping his fingers right next to his friend's ear to wake him up, and the bags under Namikaze's eyes did his appearance no favors.

"Jesus man, you look like shit," Inuzuka half-whispered to keep from drawing undue attention to what he was discussing. "What'd you do last night to cool off?"

"Pulled an all-nighter," Naruto mumbled, telling a white lie. He _had_ stayed up almost all night, but he'd been putting bullets into the heads of dummy targets rather than doing any kind of schoolwork. Kiba gave his friend a concerned glance, which only sharpened when he saw Naruto flinch as his shoulder wound acted up. Knowing he wasn't going to get anything else out of the blue-eyed soldier, though, Inuzuka just shrugged and walked over to his desk. Prodding Naruto when he was in a bad mood was never a wise move, and it was too early in the morning to tempt fate.

Shikamaru was nowhere to be seen, but that was to be expected; the strategist never liked showing up at school before lunch the morning after a mission, if he came at all. Neji shot Kiba a questioning look, but the hunter silently told his other comrade to let it go. As Iruka-sensei began droning about King Lear, all thoughts of the yakuza vanished as the group acted like completely normal students.

About thirty minutes into the lecture, Naruto felt the walls beginning to close in on him with a vengeance. He raised his hand, claiming to need to use the bathroom before getting up and walking calmly out of the classroom. His pace increased rapidly as he climbed the stairs, and in almost no time at all he walked out onto the rooftop for some much-needed fresh air and solitude.

Except that he wasn't alone.

"You spent all of last night out on the shooting range, didn't you?"

Namikaze's shock at seeing Kakashi _here_ of all places was quickly replaced by annoyance, and he set his face into a frown while staring off into the overcast and murky horizon.

"So what if I did?" Naruto shot back petulantly. "How'd you even know I'd be up here, anyway?" he asked, the anger in his voice briefly replaced by curiosity. The white-haired soldier gave a small smile as he walked over from the wall he'd been lounging against and stood by his adopted son, leaning partway over the guardrail as he spoke.

"Your father used to do the exact same thing whenever a problem really got under his skin," Hatake explained. "He'd always want to be out in the open; said it helped clear his head of all the bureaucratic bickering the old men would always be up to, like that fucking snake Danzo… but that's neither here nor there," he shifted abruptly, and Naruto knew instinctively that nothing said here would be mentioned to anyone else.

"I came here because I wanted to apologize to you, kid," Kakashi continued as a tinge of remorse colored his voice. "I thought you'd want to know a bit more about your mother and father, and I was stupid enough not to think about possibly opening up those wounds."

"Don't worry about it," the younger soldier replied almost tonelessly. There was an underpinning of forgiveness to his trained, detached tone, however, that only someone who knew him as well as Kakashi did would be able to pick up. "I'm glad you told me what you did, actually; I feel like I never really knew them, y'know, because I was young and they were always trying to shield me from what they really were…"

"Well, if you ever want to know more about them, just say the word. We'll kill a bottle of sake down at the bar, and you can listen to this old guy ramble on about his glory days. Sound good?"

Naruto actually chuckled at that, and his foster father allowed himself a slightly triumphant smile.

"So, what are you skipping this time?"

The blue-eyed soldier grimaced again, this time in nausea as opposed to anger.

"Shakespeare," Namikaze forced out. "King Lear."

Rather than snap back with some witty retort right off of the bat like he usually did, Kakashi was quiet for a few moments. When he did speak, his voice was even and laced with something Naruto couldn't quite recognize.

"You could learn a lot from that play," Kakashi said, turning around and beginning to walk towards one of the rooftop's two exits. "I'd pay attention to it, if I were you."

The younger soldier waited in silence for a few moments as his adoptive father's parting advice sunk in. Then he just sighed, walked to the other exit and left the rooftop to head back to class.

* * *

To the casual observer, Sasuke Uchiha might very well have looked like he was deeply, deeply interested in Goneril and Regan's sororicidal shenanigans. His mind, however, couldn't have been further from the play Iruka-sensei was discussing. All he heard in his head were the words of his clansman and superior, one of the last surviving pure-blooded members of his fallen clan: Madara Uchiha.

"Be patient, Sasuke," he had told him, voice radiating with calm assurance, power and hatred despite his age. "The moment will arrive when it is ready to do so, and not a minute before. To let your emotions control you, or to act rashly, are the only two pitfalls that could possibly derail our plan. This game is ours to lose, little nephew," Madara had finished, his eyes deep and dark as the pits of Hell, "and if you lose it for me, I must confess that the repercussions will be… most severe."

Back in the present, Sasuke's tensed right hand snapped his pencil clean in half. Biting back a curse, he pulled out another one from his backpack and found that he wanted nothing more than to jam the sharpened writing instrument into Madara's neck. Fuck patience; he wanted to move now. Sarutobi was nothing more than a withered old man, and no one suspected for a second that Sasuke was a spy. A coup could be pulled off flawlessly, especially now that both Orochimaru and a large chunk of the former Uchiha Clan army had been brought under Madara's banner.

And that was to say nothing of Itachi.

The mere thought of his brother's face was enough to put a spike in Sasuke's blood pressure, but the younger Uchiha had learned to tightly control his emotions over the years. He'd had to remain stoic and aloof to avoid blowing his cover, and Sasuke had grown into a master of concealment. Still, it was hard not to snap another pencil in two as the image of Itachi, hands bloodied and his figure silhouetted by the red-orange glow of the fire behind him, flashed through Sasuke's mind.

The bastard had killed the entire ruling council of his own Clan in order to stop them from toppling Konoha's corrupt elite entirely, and Sasuke had never forgiven his older brother for leaving him alive. His anger at Itachi had only increased when he'd found out the truth from Madara, the Massacre's only other survivor: that Itachi had not only murdered his own kin voluntarily, but he'd also done it for the sake of Konoha's Fourth Hokage. In order to avoid a full-scale war, Itachi had chosen his loyalty to Minato Namikaze over his blood ties to his own family.

And for that, Sasuke was going to kill him. Provided he could find him, of course. It had been years and years since the Massacre had occured, and not even a whisper had been heard as far as Itachi's whereabouts were concerned. Still, Sasuke wasn't worried; as soon as the assault on Konoha was pulled off, he was sure his brother would resurface to aid his former allies. And if everything went smoothly on Orochimaru's end the attack would happen in a few weeks, right as summer rolled around and school ended for the year. The arrival of the warmest season would no doubt relax Konohagakure's already-lax security even further, and demolishing them would be pathetically simple.

As these thoughts filtered through Sasuke's mind, his frown shifted into a sadistic smirk and his grip on his pencil relaxed. Madara might have been moving a bit too slowly for his liking, but he also had a point. Sasuke had waited almost a decade for this moment: what were a few more weeks?

* * *

Naruto slipped back into the room and took his seat five minutes before the bell, congratulating himself on his expert timing. Determined to make him pay for cutting class, though, his slightly-guilty conscience shifted Namikaze's blue eyes from the clock to rest on Sakura, and Naruto had to quickly bite back a curse mingled with a sigh.

As he'd talked about his parents earlier with Kakashi, the young soldier had finally figured out what is what about her that he found so attractive. It was her innocence, that sense of blissful ignorance as far as what her father was really doing to pay the bills. She'd experienced a childhood that Naruto hadn't ever known, one free from bloodshed and strife and politics and fear, and maybe he just wanted to experience a bit of that through Sakura.

Of course, that she was both gorgeous and surprisingly strong didn't hurt either, which the hormonal part of his brain reminded him with all the subtlety of a hammer to the head. Soon after that, Naruto found himself simply staring at the way the light seemed to illuminate the oddly pink shade of her hair. As he did so, Namikaze couldn't help but wonder why it was that someone so attractive wasted her time pining after a guy who had about as much interest in girls as he did in being mauled by a grizzly bear.

The young soldier was so preoccupied that he didn't notice Sakura's green eyes regarding him critically until it was too late. Immediately shifting his gaze to the clock on the wall, Naruto cringed as his shoulder chose that moment to spasm.

Fucking karma.

* * *

Sakura had been born with a knack for acting she had apparently inherited from her mother, a woman who died shortly after Sakura's first birthday. It was this talent that allowed her to hide a great many things behind a stereotypical high-school girl façade, one of which was potentially thorny secret: she knew exactly what her father did for a living, and had known for quite some time.

It had happened Christmas Eve night eight years ago, when she'd snuck out of her bed to try and catch Santa and had wound up witnessing a gun deal instead. After that cataclysmic discovery, the pink-haired girl was changed forever. Sakura had started to research her father's real trade of gunrunning soon after, careful to only let him see her front of naive innocence during their day-to-day interactions.

By now, at 18, Haruno could dismantle and rebuild a gun blindfolded, and knew the ins and outs of almost every firearm her father made and managed. These were skills she had honed during the long hours she had spent at home alone while her father was out on the job. The only thing Sakura didn't know was _where_ all of the guns went, but she had a feeling that knowing something like that would be much more trouble than it was worth.

Dragging herself out of her thoughts, the green-eyed girl returned her focus to the boy sitting not that far across the room from her, Sasuke Uchiha. Sakura didn't find him attractive because he was the most charismatic person in the world—hell, a slab of plywood probably said more words than him per day—she was drawn to him precisely because of his taciturn nature. His hollow eyes practically screamed 'damaged goods'; Sakura knew that, hidden somewhere underneath Sasuke's stoic exterior, was a kid not unlike herself. She would just have to get him to show her, somehow.

The hairs on the back of Haruno's neck pricked up suddenly as she felt herself being watched. Sure enough, as she glanced back over her shoulder, Sakura locked eyes with none other than Naruto Namikaze. Their gazes were matched for a few scant heartbeats before the boy looked away, clearly embarrassed at having been found out. She sighed to herself, slightly flattered by the attention but mostly bemused. Naruto was like Sasuke's polar opposite: where Uchiha was silent, Namikaze was brash. While Sasuke seemed to do everything with a cold, calculating precision, Naruto just threw himself into a task full-bore without worrying about the consequences, laughing all the way.

That was one thing he had going for him, Sakura mused thoughtfully as she drummed her nails lightly against her desk. Namikaze's smile could light up a room, even if his clownish antics wore thin incredibly quickly. There were rare moments when Sakura thought she saw cracks in Naruto's bravado, however. In those moments, she could catch a fleeting glimpse of what seemed like someone entirely different underneath. Those would pass faster than a leaf blowing by in a strong wind, though, as Naruto would just grin again and crack another ridiculous joke.

The bell cut through her thoughts like a knife, and Sakura rose from her desk with a weary sigh. Just as she was about to exit the room, however, a voice called out from behind her.

"Sakura-chan! Wait up!"

Haruno bit back a growl, turning back around to face the person who had addressed her.

"Yes, Naruto?" she asked, hoping to sound acerbic enough for the blue-eyed joker to get the hint. Namikaze was undaunted, however, and spoke in his usual easy, slightly lilting tone.

"Since the project for Stats is due on Friday," he began, and Sakura cursed mentally as she remembered not only the annoying project, but also her equally wearisome partner, "I figured we could meet up tomorrow and start on it. 'Cause today's Wednesday already an' all, and we're running out of time."

"Yeah, sure; that sounds good," the pink-haired girl replied in her best flippantly-uninterested voice, saying nothing more as she left the room.

Naruto watched her go before letting out a low, lingering whistle. As much as the shallow parts of her personality annoyed the crap out of him, there was still more than enough left over to captivate the young yakuza. He'd lived almost his whole life hiding what he really did and who he really was from public scrutiny; that experience had allowed Namikaze to know, with unerring certainty, when someone was hiding something.

And Sakura Haruno was hiding something _huge_, there was no doubt about that.

* * *

A few hours later, the daughter of steel baron and gunrunner Yoshitsune Haruno was flipping idly through the latest issue of _Guns and Ammo_ when her world decided it was going to completely crash down on top of her head.

Sakura had known from the moment she discovered her father's true profession that their lives were being shadowed by a gigantic metaphorical timebomb. She had known that, sooner or later, one of the old man's mistakes was definitely going to come back to haunt him: she just hadn't been expecting the piper to come calling tonight. The first hint she got that something was very, very wrong was the acrid smell and sight of smoke floating up from the floor below. Sakura was immediately on her feet, reaching for and loading the pistol she always kept hidden in the dresser next to her bed. She was clad in simple sweatpants and a t-shirt, but despite her misgivings about her attire every bone in her body was screaming at her to just get moving and to do it _now_.

And with good reason: the green-eyed girl discovered a few moments later that her house was in fact on fire, and that the fire was spreading quite rapidly. Not only that, but this fire was far from accidental: Sakura could hear the voices of the arsonists as they were carried up to her ears by rising currents of increasingly warm air.

"What do you mean, you can't find her?" an agitated female voice demanded, which was soon answered by an exasperated male voice in turn.

"I mean she's not down here, you idiot. She must be upstairs."

"No shit, Sakon!" the female snapped back, only to be cut off a second later.

"Tayuya," a third, much calmer voice broke in, "still your vulgar tongue. Lord Orochimaru will be most displeased if he hears that we have failed to extract our target. So please, in order to avoid that most unfavorable outcome, find this young woman before she burns to death. If you fail, I will have no qualms with butchering the four of you myself."

"Fine, fine, Kimimaro," yet another voice broke in, "we hear you loud and clear. No need to get your panties in a twist."

Before the leader could reply, Sakura's ears picked up on the sound of boots storming up the staircase that lead to the hallway where her room was.

"Fuck!" she hissed, silently wondering what her father had done to merit these people showing up on their doorstep.

Covering her nose and mouth as best she could as protection against the smoke, Sakura quickly retreated back into her room and took aim. She planned on using the choke point created by her door to her advantage, picking her enemies off one by one as they emerged.

That idea went right out the window, though, when a huge man literally crashed shoulder-first though the drywall adjacent to her door. The momentary distraction was enough to take Sakura's sights off of her door, and a split-second later another intruder kicked the wooden barrier down in one blow before firing off a single shot. As she felt something prick her shoulder and the world went hazy, Haruno realized that she'd just been tagged by a tranquilizer gun.

_That's just fucking embarrassing,_ Sakura cursed at herself as she finally slipped into unconsciousness, slumping over into the hold of the one who had shot her.

"You all right, Jirobo?" the one carrying the group's prize asked concernedly.

"I'll be fine, Kidomaru," the big man grit back to his partner. "She didn't have a chance to get a shot off thanks to you."

The other Sound soldier nodded shortly, securing the unconscious girl over his shoulder before walking swiftly from the room.

"Let's get the hell out of here, man," Kidomaru said seriously as the flames began to lick up the walls. "The last thing I want to do is give Orochimaru reason to be pissed at us."

The pair of intruders raced back down to join their comrades, Sakura in tow, and a few minutes later a white van sped off into the night as the Haruno mansion burned to ashes behind it.

* * *

**A/N: **Man, some parts of that were hard to get right. Hope it flowed well nonetheless, though, and that it was an enjoyable read. Things look kind of bleak for Sakura right now, but rest assured that she's far from helpless. The next chapter should be brisk and action-y to make up for the slow burn that was most of this chapter, so stay tuned!

Also, don't get me wrong, I **love** Shakespeare, but Naruto definitely didn't seem like a fan to me. Hence his dislike of the Bard.


	5. Old Wounds

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does. This story, however, is mine.

**Lords of War**

**Chapter 5:** Old Wounds

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third and currently acting Hokage, looked over the sheets of paper in front of him with a permanent frown etched onto his aged face. Clearing his throat after a moment, he looked up and around the table at his top soldiers.

"Kagerogakure's acting up again, it seems," he declared in a throaty voice, and most of the veteran Konohagakure yakuza in attendance had to fight not to sigh.

"What're they doing this time?" Kakashi asked, breaking the exasperated silence lazily. Before the Hokage could reply, however, someone else spoke up.

"Trying to muscle in on our extortion rackets," Anko Mitarashi broke in, the energy normally present in her expression clouded over by annoyance as her copper eyes narrowed dangerously. "They don't have the balls to get into the hard stuff, so they just make my life difficult. Are you _sure_ we can't just kill them all, Sir? Because that would really help me sleep at night."

"Not while they claim alliance with Sunagakure," Sarutobi replied sternly, and Anko begrudgingly deflated. "As long as the Kazekage backs them, we cannot attack them openly or risk breaking the truce."

"And this doesn't count as that rat bastard breaking the truce on his end, Sir?" Asuma Sarutobi broached sardonically, taking a puff on a cigarette that dangled lazily between his lips. "If we keep letting him walk all over us like this, sooner or later he'll be on our damn doorstep."

"There is a profound difference between a skirmish and all-out war, Asuma," a scratchy voice broke in as all eyes in the room turned to regard the haggard, bandaged man known as Danzo. "I would have thought someone like you would understand that."

"So what would you have us do instead, Danzo?" Kakashi pressed the elder man. Danzo simply gave a small smile before replying.

"Expand our sources of revenue. Push into the Red Light District and cut our losses in extortion with gains on that front."

"Absolutely not!" The Hokage thundered, silencing the room in an instant. "Danzo, I would have thought _you_ of all people would understand by now that there are standards we must keep to, rules we must observe. My predecessors established that our involvement in the drug trade would not include narcotics harder than cocaine, and my successor, may he rest in peace, forbade running prostitution rackets. Thanks to Minato, our profit increased enormously as the expenses associated with prostitution vanished."

"At the cost of territory, Sarutobi," Danzo parried with a venomous tone that caused many of the soldiers in attendance to clench their fists in anger under the table at the insult. "And now that initial spike in profit is wearing off, only proving my belief that Namikaze was a naïve little whelp who had no business holding the title of Hokage!"

A chorus of angry shouting erupted at the elder's harsh words, but before it progressed too far the meeting was interrupted by a thunderous _bang_ as the door to the chambers flew open. It was a long-established rule that no one disturbed Council meetings unless they wanted to meet a very sudden and messy end, so the sudden arrival of someone literally barreling through the heavy oaken doors was enough to freeze the shouting match in its tracks.

"Hokage-sama!" a large, muscular man with slicked-back black hair and dark brown eyes bellowed out. "I need your help!"

Yoshitsune Haruno's incredibly distinctive voice saved his life that moment, because several guns that had been drawn and cocked were re-holstered as the elite soldiers recognized the bullish voice and its owner.

"Calm down, old friend, calm down," the elder Sarutobi urged in a smooth, placating voice. "What happened that has driven you to such a state of mania?"

"She's gone!" the arms baron exhaled in a gasp as stress and fatigue finally caught up with him. "Sakura is gone. He took her, Hiruzen, and I couldn't do anything…"

"Whoa, back up, Haruno-san," Kakashi spoke up as he rose to his feet. "Who took Sakura? What happened to her?"

Yoshitsune regarded his former rival skeptically at first, but relented when he saw the genuine concern reflected in Hatake's eyes. The two of them had been rivals in courting Sakura's mother, Rin Haruno, and even after Rin had insisted that Kakashi be named Sakura's godfather the two men had continued their rivalry. This mainly stemmed from the fact that Yoshitsune hadn't even told Sakura about Kakashi, worried that she would be drawn into that world and meet the same kind of end as her mother. Kakashi had kept his distance out of respect, but now that the cat seemed to be out of the bag he wasn't about to sit by and do nothing.

"He kidnapped her," the arms dealer continued once he'd gotten his breath back. "Orochimaru."

The silence in the room shifted immediately, becoming much tenser and more ominous at the mention of Konohagakure's formerly loyal enforcer turned deadly rogue enemy.

"Orochimaru?" the Hokage asked after a few moments. "Are you sure about that, Yoshitsune?"

"Unfortunately, there's no doubt," Haruno replied, his tone laced with resigned fatalism as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a disc. "This was delivered to my office earlier today."

Kakashi tried to keep his hand still as he took the object from the gunrunner, but he wasn't entirely successful. A few moments later the disc had been placed into a nearby player, and the image flickered to life. The scene would have been relatively innocuous, if its implications hadn't been so horrifying.

Sakura was sitting in a chair that seemed to be bolted to the floor, hands tied and resting in her lap while her feet were tied to the chair to keep her immobile. She wasn't blindfolded, but the black tarp in the background made it unmistakably clear that this was going to be an execution. And the three-swirls pattern woven into the tarp, white-on-black, forming Orochimaru's trademark 'Cursed Seal', left no doubt as to who was behind the kidnapping. Any lingering suspicions that this was a fake, however, were crushed as a raspy, malevolent voice spoke out.

"What is your name, child?"

Anko's eyes shut reflexively as the voice of her old boss dredged up scores of bad memories, and Kurenai wrapped her arm around her neighbor's shoulders supportively.

"Sakura Haruno," the captive replied evenly without so much as flinching, and Orochimaru chuckled mockingly before continuing.

"Are you afraid, Sakura?"

"No," she answered, eyes flashing with barely repressed rage and tone steely.

"That is admirable, to be sure," the exiled criminal hissed. "I cannot help but wonder, however, if that sentiment is nothing more than skin deep. Kimimaro."

The single word acted like an order, and man with long, white hair soon stepped into the camera's field of vision brandishing a pistol. Raising it and taking aim, Kimimaro shot a single round into Sakura's right thigh. The horrified Konoha yakuza could tell that the green-eyed girl was in terrible pain, but to her immense credit she didn't so much as groan. The only sign she gave of being in pain was shedding a pair of tears, one from each eye.

"Impressive," Orochimaru commented, sounding surprisingly sincere. "Your mother would be proud of you. If she was alive to see you, that is. Fortunately, I sent her to the grave long ago, so she will be spared the pain of watching you die."

This made something deep inside of Sakura snap, but she kept from thrashing in order to avoid speeding up the bleeding from her gunshot wound. It was readily apparent, however, that the directionless hatred she had been displaying earlier had shifted into cold, murderous intent directed at Orochimaru, and him alone.

"I'm going to kill you," she hissed with a certainty that made even Kakashi flinch. "One way or another, I'm going to rip your fucking throat out. That's a promise."

The criminal just laughed, apparently signaling again to Kimimaro as the white-haired soldier put his pistol right up against Sakura's temple. This done, Orochimaru finally stepped out in front of the camera. He was dressed immaculately, his outwardly clean image disguising a thoroughly rotten soul.

"Yoshitsune Haruno," he began confidently. "I have a proposition for you. Either you can bring five million dollars in unmarked bills to this building, or the next package you receive from me will be your daughter's head in a box. As of this moment, 8:30 p.m., I will give you exactly two hours to arrive, alone, with the money. If you do not appear, or you are not alone, Sakura's brains are going to be all over that tarp. Your choice."

The screen flickered to black, and not a sound was uttered for a few moments until Asuma asked the question that was on most everyone's mind.

"How the hell are we supposed to figure out where she is without an address?" he asked. "And we only have…" here he paused to look at his watch, "one hour and thirty minutes left."

"It's a trap," Anko spoke up, her voice hollow. "We… Orochimaru used to do this all the time. He knows that I know where the building is, his headquarters, and if Yoshitsune shows up at all he'll know we tipped him off.

"And that's not the only problem, either; the place is a fucking fortress. It's an abandoned high-rise; one way in, one way out. The back doors are welded shut, and the elevators have no roofs, so sniping is a piece of cake. We'd have to find a way to sneak a strike force in somehow, because if we show up at the front door it doesn't matter if Yoshitsune has the money or not; Sakura's still going to die."

"But we can't just do nothing, either," Kakashi rebutted, his voice laced with an unusual amount of anger, "or we're condemning her to death. And if I recall correctly, a certain someone managed to infiltrate Orochimaru's HQ single-handedly, came within inches of killing him and then brought you here."

"That was a long time ago, Kakashi," Mitarashi said in a particularly dangerous tone, "and that man is no longer a part of our ranks."

"Enough!" the Third shouted, quelling the argument before it even began. "There will be time for pointless reminiscing later. For now, Kakashi is right: we have to take action, and we have to do it immediately. Yoshitsune, take the money and bring it to Orochimaru's stronghold. At the same time, a strike team will break in undetected through the back of the building and retrieve Sakura. Hopefully there will be minimal casualties, but we don't have time to develop a thorough plan. Anko-chan, do you remember the layout of the building?"

"All too well, Sir."

"Reproduce a blueprint, scan it and dispatch it to the members of the team. Kakashi; Asuma; Genma; Hayate; Kotetsu and Izumo: the six of you are the strike force, along with Anko-chan. I'm counting on all of you to perform to the best of your abilities, and bring Sakura Haruno home uninjured. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir!" all six of the soldiers chorused, before rising and leaving the room along with Anko. Yoshitsune collapsed into a chair, and Hiruzen poured his old friend a cup of sake.

"Can you do this, Haruno?" he asked quietly, and the gunrunner nodded after draining his cup.

"As a father, Sarutobi, you should know as well that it is nothing less than our solemn duty to protect our offspring from harm. I failed Sakura once by letting her get captured, and I won't let that happen again."

"Good luck," the Hokage spoke seriously, and the two men clasped hands one last time before Yoshitsune left the room to join the soldiers that awaited him.

Naruto had been feeling unusually hungry, and had decided to go downstairs for some old-fashioned refrigerator raiding. He wound up running into the strike force instead, and shot Kakashi a questioning glance. When he saw Sakura's father among the assembled, however, his glance became much more alarmed.

"What happened to Sakura?" he asked his adoptive father in a hushed but urgent tone, pulling him slightly to the side for some privacy. "Is she okay?"

The white-haired soldier had to marvel for a moment at how perceptive Naruto could be when he wanted to, and realized that lying to the young Namikaze at this point would be pointless.

"Sakura's been kidnapped," Hatake explained evenly. "By Orochimaru."

Naruto's blue eyes widened dramatically at that news, his mouth hanging open a little bit before he got himself back under control.

"_The_ Orochimaru?" Kakashi just nodded, and Naruto felt his heart clench. "Holy shit."

"Pretty much."

Namikaze wrestled with common sense for a few heartbeats, before successfully dragging it into an alley and bashing it into a coma with a pipe wrench.

"I'm going with you."

Kakashi's eyes widened at that, hoping that he hadn't just heard what he thought he'd just heard.

"Excuse me?"

"I said," Naruto repeated with stoic certainty, "that I'm going with you. And before you ask, pops," he cut his guardian off, "I'm ready to fight." The blond-haired soldier promptly produced a pair of semi-automatic pistols, and tapped his fist against his shirt to signal that a bulletproof vest was hidden underneath. Kakashi gave the younger yakuza a skeptical glance.

"And why, exactly, were you walking around battle-ready like that?"

Naruto just shrugged.

"Had a bad feeling."

Hatake sighed wearily; he did _not_ need to be dealing with this shit right now.

"Even if I say you absolutely can't go," he replied, "you're probably going to find a way to sneak along, right?"

Namikaze grinned devilishly.

"You know me so well."

"Just answer one question for me, kid," Kakashi said, playing his last card to try and keep his ward out of harm's way. "Do it satisfactorily, and I'll let you come with us.

"Is this business, or is it personal?"

Naruto's heart sank for a moment as he realized that he was really just trying to be Lancelot, but then he found the answer and his eyes lit up triumphantly.

"Strictly business, pops."

"Really?" Kakashi prodded, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Prove it."

"We have a project for Statistics class due on Friday," Naruto explained, "and I'll be _damned_ if I'm handling that whole thing myself."

The white-haired soldier mentally cursed a string of profanities that would have made a sailor blush, but gave in against his better judgment.

_Minato,_ he thought to himself, _please forgive me._

For the briefest of moments Kakashi thought he heard his old mentor's easy chuckle float past his ear, but he shook it off.

"Fine; you can come with us, Naruto," he acquiesced, "but you _stay with me_. Got it?"

"Of course," Namikaze answered seriously, his face completely humorless.

"Good. Now let's get going; we don't have time to waste."

* * *

"I think she's about to pass out, Kimimaro."

"Her comfort is immaterial, Jirobo. Silence yourself; I'm trying to think."

"But if she dies, then we have nothing to ransom."

The lithe yakuza ran his hands through his white hair in exasperation, not even opening his eyes as he grit out a reply.

"This is why you'll never be more than a grunt, Jirobo. We're not ransoming anything; we're extorting. As soon as that old man gets here and drops off the money, we're going to put a bullet through his skull. If the girl dies, the girl dies."

Jirobo said nothing, merely nodding in mute understanding. Looking down at his watch, the heavyset man raised both of his eyebrows in surprise.

"He's only got an hour left," he stated. "You think he'll show up?"

Before Kimimaro could reply, the door to the room swung open and Kidomaru stepped in.

"He's here."

"Is he alone?" the white-haired gangster pressed, and Kidomaru just shrugged.

"Looks like it, oddly enough. Maybe those Leaf bastards just gave him the address and bailed."

"I doubt it, somehow," Kimimaro said drolly, readying his gun and exhaling. "Follow me, now."

"But what about…" Jirobo began, only to have Kidomaru cut him off.

"She's half-unconscious from blood loss, tied down to a bolted chair and weaponless. I doubt we have anything to worry about from this chick, Jirobo."

"Orochimaru-sama ordered us to watch her at all times, and take no chances," the larger gangster parried. "Do you really want to disobey a direct order from him, Kidomaru-kun?"

"Fine," Kimimaro acquiesced with a growl. "Kidomaru, you stay here and watch the girl. Jirobo, come with me, and don't make me regret not taking Kidomaru instead."

The pair hastily left the room to rendezvous with Tayuya and Sakon, leaving Sakura alone with her captor. As Kidomaru slumped against the wall and regarded the prisoner with cold detachment, his gaze soon turned wrathful. The gangster drew a bowie knife from a sheath on his hip as he stalked towards the dazed captive, dark eyes smoldering by the time he came within arms-length of her.

"You know," Kidomaru began almost whimsically, taking the blade and tracing it down Sakura's cheek with just enough force to draw blood, "I really, really hate guard detail. Especially when I could be out there fighting, and _especially_ when the person I'm guarding is nothing more than a breathing corpse. So I think I'm gonna do everyone a favor," the yakuza finished as he leaned in close enough to look eye-to-eye with his prey and brought the knife up to her throat, "and end you right here and now."

Kidomaru paused for a moment to savor the spike in adrenaline right before a kill, but as he made to draw the blade across Sakura's throat her green eyes snapped sharply into focus.

"What the…?" he breathed out, eyes wide in shock. The gangster's question was cut short, however, as Sakura's bound hands slammed into Kidomaru's chin and sent him falling backwards. The knife slipped out of his now-slack hand, and the pink-haired captive seized her chance. Leaning forward, she gripped the handle of the weapon and brought it up into her lap, fixing it in an upright position by trapping the knife's grip between her thighs. This done, Sakura used the blade to saw away at the rope binding her wrists together. Once her hands were free, Haruno got to work on liberating her ankles from their restraints and finished just as Kidomaru was getting shakily to his feet.

"You're a strong bitch," he spat as he squared off into a boxing stance, "I'll give you that. But little girls like you shouldn't play with knives."

"And little boys with busted jaws should know better than to run their mouths," Sakura shot back, before beginning to warily circle her opponent. She had slightly longer reach and a blade on her side, but he was a trained, ruthless combatant going up against someone who could count the number of fights she'd been in on one hand.

"Don't keep me waiting, sweetheart," Kidomaru taunted, acting aggressively in an attempt to disguise the fact that Sakura's surprise attack earlier had knocked him for a major loop. The green-eyed girl lunged, forcing the gangster to twist away from the blade.

Which is exactly what Sakura had been counting on.

Ignoring the painful screams of protest from her gunshot-wounded muscle, Haruno brought her leg up swiftly and slammed a kick into the back of Kidomaru's head. The yakuza staggered forward jerkily, and before she could give herself a chance to hesitate Sakura brought the knife up and stabbed it into the side of his neck.

The first sensation that hit her was the sickly warm feeling as blood flowed out over her hand, causing it to slip from the knife's grip and fall limply to her side. What brought her back to the gruesome reality that she had actually just _killed_ another human being were the strangled gurgling sounds Kidomaru made as he turned slowly to face her. The look in his wide eyes spoke volumes, a mixture of hatred, fear and agonizing suffering. He grabbed onto the front of her shirt futilely, trying to drag her down to the ground with him but losing the strength in his muscles before he could. As Sakura took in deep breath after deep breath trying to calm down, the communicator at Kidomaru's waist crackled to life.

"Kidomaru!" Jirobo's voice called out over the connection. "Stay sharp! We took care of the old man Haruno, but Kimimaro was right: those bastards from Konoha are here, and they're headed your way! I called for reinforcements for you, but—"

Here the transmission was drowned out by the loud sound of gunfire, and soon the connection went dead altogether. Sakura was still for a few moments as the enormity of what had just happened passed over her, eyes open but unseeing.

She had just taken a life.

Her father was dead. She would never hear his voice again.

The sound of commotion and gunfire nearby on the other side of the room's iron door jolted her back to the present. Sakura suppressed a piercing wave of nausea, got to her feet and pulled the knife out of Kidomaru's neck, wiping both her hands and the blade off on his shirt before hobbling over and leaning against the wall by the door. Hiding in the blind spot, Sakura was in perfect position to jump whoever charged through the door and incapacitate them before they could even blink. Taking one last breath in a vain attempt to calm her racing heart, the pink-haired girl waited in silence for the first person stupid enough to come barging through the door.

She didn't have to wait very long at all.

As soon as the door flew open she struck, swiftly bringing the edge of the knife to rest against the throat of her visitor. She was vaguely aware of a gun barrel being pressed to the side of her head at the same time, but Sakura didn't care. If this bastard pulled the trigger, her last act would be to open their jugular. As she brought her eyes up to behold her new enemy, though, Sakura almost dropped her weapon in shock.

There was no way that this was actually happening. She was having a nightmare, and she would wake up any minute now. The gunman had blond hair, blue eyes, and was a dead ringer for…

"Naruto?!"

Naruto Namikaze was wrestling with some shock of his own at the moment: he had expected to run into a room full of goons standing guard over a terrified Sakura, and had instead wound up with the hostage not only free, but holding a knife to his throat.

"Sakura-chan?" he parried, his tone equally surprised. "Where'd you get that knife?"

"Where'd you get that _gun_?"

Seeing an opportunity to diffuse the situation, Namikaze smirked.

"I'll tell you if you put down the knife."

Looking like she still thought she was dreaming, Sakura slowly lowered the knife while Naruto mirrored the gesture with his firearm. Catching sight of the corpse splayed out on the floor, the blue-eyed soldier raised an eyebrow.

"You do that?" he asked, gesturing to the fallen body, and Sakura nodded reluctantly. Naruto gave a low whistle, walking over to the body and inspecting the wound from a crouched position.

"Vicious," he commented, getting back up to his feet as he did so. "I didn't know you had it in you, Sakura-ch…"

The yakuza's voice trailed off as he got his first good look at the person he had come to rescue. Her hair was a mess, her face was flushed, her shirt was frayed and splattered with blood and her dirt-streaked muscles gleamed with sweat in the dim light as the cut on her cheek slowly ceased to bleed.

She was, in a word, breathtaking. Sakura looked like a valkyrie of myth made real, and for several heartbeats Naruto couldn't make a sound as he stood there, spellbound. The enchantment, such as it was, was broken when the wound in Haruno's leg flared with pain again and she winced, lurching forward. Namikaze rushed forward and braced her, lowering Sakura gently to the ground.

"Easy, easy," he said softly, making sure she was situated before he shifted his attention to Kidomaru's corpse and, borrowing Sakura's knife, cut a swath of cloth from his shirt.

"What're you…?" she began to ask, but Naruto answered her question silently by tying the fabric tightly around her thigh wound in a makeshift tourniquet.

"He won't miss it, trust me," he quipped with a small smile, which grew as he saw a bit of life come back into Sakura's eyes as she gave a small laugh.

"That should stop the bleeding for now," Naruto spoke after helping Haruno slowly to her feet and taking weight off of her wounded leg by draping her right arm over his shoulders. "We'll get to a doctor who can treat the wound soon, and then you'll be able to go back home no problem!"

Images of her home reduced to a pile of ashes and what her father might look like as a corpse flashed through Sakura's mind at those words and she stiffened, causing Naruto to stop walking as well.

"Sakura-chan?" he prompted, looking over to see his companion standing shakily with her head hung, tears clearly threatening to break free from her eyes.

"I don't have a home anymore, Naruto," she said hollowly. "And my dad's dead. I don't have anything!"

"You have me."

Naruto had blurted out the words without thinking, and his eyes slowly widened with horror as he realized what he'd just said. Sakura looked at him in what he hoped was adoration for a moment, but it must have just been shock. Because a heartbeat later her eyes narrowed, and when she spoke her tone was anything but awe-struck.

"God, that was cliché."

Namikaze felt his gut lurch like she'd just sucker-punched him square in the solar plexus, but he quickly got his second wind and replied.

"Hey, I'm just working with what you give me," he said with cutting sarcasm. "It's not my fault you're being shamelessly melodramatic."

"Shamelessly melodramatic?" Sakura echoed, shocked at his callousness. "My father just got murdered, my house got burned down and I just killed somebody! How am I being melodramatic? You couldn't possibly know what I'm going though right now, you insensitive bastard!"

Naruto's expression changed from solicitous to steely so quickly it made Sakura physically flinch.

"I'll admit that what I said was out of line," he said in a voice that reminded Haruno of a hungry wolf, "but if you ever, _ever_ insinuate that I don't know how it feels to lose the things you love again, I'm leaving you here with one good leg and a festering gunshot wound. Is that in any way unclear, Sakura-_chan_?" he finished, giving her honorific a razor's sharpness that cut deeply. Sakura, stunned that the person who had just said those words was the same goofy, awkward Naruto she'd always known, was silenced by the venomous rebuke. Before they could do or say anything else, however, a voice coming from off to the left broke the tense silence.

"Well, as much as the sight of young love makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over," Kakashi spoke up dryly, "we have somewhere to be. Naruto," he finished pointedly, giving his ward a look that forced the edge off of his anger, "as you were."

"Right," the blond-haired warrior sighed, sinking slightly as his own fatigue seemed to have finally caught up with him. "C'mon, Sakura-chan," he said to the girl he was still supporting, his voice softer than before and eyes decidedly apologetic, "let's go home."

* * *

The trio joined up with Izumo and Kotetsu before hurrying to meet up with the rest of the strike force at the entrance to the building. As soon as they got there, though, the Konoha soldiers knew immediately that something was wrong.

"Where's Anko?" Kakashi asked worriedly. Asuma looked up from where he and Genma were treating a seriously wounded Hayate, answering the question with a worried look in his eyes.

"We were clearing out the east side, just like we'd planned, when Mitarashi shouted something about 'Orochimaru' and broke off from the pack. I went to chase after her, but then Hayate got hit. Genma and I fought to get him out of there alive, and I lost sight of Anko."

"Fuck," Kotetsu cursed succinctly, scratching anxiously at the bandage that ran across his face. "Whadda you want to do, chief?"

Asuma, the highest-ranking yakuza on the mission, was the de-facto leader and therefore the decision-making fell to him. After thinking hard for a few moments, Sarutobi issued his orders.

"Genma, switch places with Izumo and go back to where we last saw Anko. Kotetsu, you go with him, and the rest of us will stay here to keep Hayate and the little Haruno out of harm's way. Just to be safe, I'm going to call in some medical support."

Sakura bristled at being referred to as 'little', but said nothing. Naruto snickered at her reaction, a gesture that earned him a swift punch to his wounded shoulder.

"How's he doing?" Kakashi asked with a concerned glance down at Hayate as Genma and Kotetsu hurried off, and Asuma sighed wearily.

"It's pretty bad, but he should make it if the medics haul ass. He'll definitely be out of action for a while, though."

"That's still better than him being dead," Naruto commented bluntly, and his fellow warriors silently agreed.

* * *

Everything had been going so smoothly, and then _he_ showed up. It was nothing more than the sight of long black hair whipping around a corner, but Anko knew beyond the shadow of doubt who it was.

"Orochimaru!"

The word left her mouth less like a yell and more like a curse fueled by years of rage and hatred, and before she even realized what she was doing Mitarashi was sprinting down the hallway after her former master. The warning shouts of Genma and Asuma fell on deaf ears, and Anko felt her vision tunneling more and more as she ran further away from her allies and closer to the man she had let ruin her life for so long.

The bastard was going to pay, even if she had to die to make it happen.

As she turned sharply around the next corner, however, Mitarashi was stopped dead in her tracks as the barrel of a gun blindsided her in a vicious pistol whip to the side of her head. The last thing she saw was a pair of malicious, slanted golden eyes staring down at her hungrily, but the shout she wanted so badly to let loose died on her lips as the world faded to black.

* * *

When Anko came to, the first thing her eyes were drawn to was the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling as it swung back and forth like a hellish pendulum. Next came the rust-stained walls smeared with white paint that was flaking off like dead skin, and slowly but surely she realized just where she was. Horrified, Mitarashi tried to move away from the memories that swelled up and threatened to crush her. This effort failed pathetically when she found that her arms were bound tightly to her sides by coils of thick, sturdy rope.

_Oh, no. Not here. Not _this.

"Nostalgic, isn't it?"

The unctuous voice cut through Anko's panicked thoughts like a knife, and she froze perfectly still as Orochimaru stepped out of the shadows and into the dim light. He was holding a gun in one hand and brandishing a syringe filled with clear liquid in the other, his golden eyes gleaming with malevolence. Mitarashi began to thrash back and forth as he walked calmly towards her, but a bullet impacting the wall mere inches from her head stopped Anko's movement once again.

"This used to be your home, Anko; don't you remember?" Orochimaru asked in a tone that was somewhere between a hiss and a purr. "You were so happy here. We were so happy. It was beautiful, Anko," he continued, running the fingers of his hand that was holding the syringe lightly over her cheek while Mitarashi tried to shy away from the twisted caress. "_You_ were beautiful. But then _he_ came along, and you left me. Why did you leave, Anko?"

"You and that fucking drug of yours were killing me, Orochimaru," she spat back forcefully, defiant even when helpless. "That's why I left: because I knew he could help me."

"You knew nothing about him!" Orochimaru replied in the closest thing to a shout he ever used. "He was an assassin sent by the Red Dragon Syndicate to take my head, not a knight in shining armor! But you still left with him, left me! And what happened next? Did this saint of yours nurse you back to health, clean up your addiction? No! He dropped you off on Konohagakure's doorstep like trash and vanished!"

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Orochimaru. He did more for me in the two months I knew him than you did in all of the years I worked for you!"

"Oh, really?" Orochimaru parried, all of the hurt in his voice replaced with malice as he primed the syringe and positioned it over a vein in Anko's shoulder. "If he cares about you so much, I wonder what he'll do when he hears you've gone back to being a junkie."

"Orochimaru, please don't do this," she pleaded one last time. A second later, though, the prick and all-too-familiar burn told her the drug had been injected. Tears trickled down Anko's face as her eyes fluttered closed, while Orochimaru simply walked calmly out of the room.

* * *

Genma and Kotetsu found Anko mere minutes after Orochimaru had dosed her with heroin and vanished, and their eyes widened in shock at the scene.

"Oh god," Kotetsu breathed out while Genma rushed to Mitarashi's side and cut her loose, "tell me he didn't put her back on the spike…"

"Looks like it, sadly," Genma declaed as he lifted up Anko's eyelids and shined a light into her eyeballs. "Son of a bitch," he cursed vehemently, "he gave her a lethal dose. Are the medics here yet?"

Kotetsu checked hastily over the radio and nodded.

"Tell them to get their adrenaline ready, and a heavy dose of it. Now!"

The soldier did so while the pair hurried back to the building's entrance as quickly as they could, Anko in tow as the woman slipped further and further towards comatose.

* * *

The medics barely succeeded in pulling Mitarashi away from death's door, but she would live to see another day all the same. She sat completely motionless as the Konoha crew drove away from the scene of what had almost been a total catastrophe, eyes glassy and unblinking. The soldiers had successfully completed their mission, technically speaking, but an air of defeat still hung over the soldiers' heads. Two of their own had almost been killed, Yoshitsune Haruno was dead, the five million was nowhere to be seen and they had come painfully close to capturing Orochimaru only to have him slip through their fingers once again.

But both Anko and Hayate had been saved and Sakura was alive, if wounded. As the convoy of vehicles sped through the night back to Konohagakure, Sakura, who was sitting with Kakashi and Naruto in the back of a sedan, turned to her friend and spoke.

"So, Naruto," she began uncertainly, still not quite sure what to make of what had happened tonight, "who exactly _are_ you?"

Naruto gave her a weak smile and chuckled.

"That, Sakura-chan," he replied, "is a very long story."

* * *

**A/N:** Whew, that was intense. The longest, most action-y and darkest chapter to date, but also the one I've had the most fun writing so far. Hope you enjoyed it, and **please review**!

And in case any of you were wondering, yes, that is the same Red Dragon Syndicate that appears in Cowboy Bebop. Crossover time! But I'll also say this: the person Anko and Orochimaru were referring to is **not** Spike, nor is it Vicious. The plot thickens...

Also, a 'thank you' goes out to the brilliant JasoTheArtisan for reminding me of the adrenaline treatment for a potential heroin overdose, Pulp Fiction-style. If any of you are also into 'Bleach', you should read his story titled **So**. It's high-quality stuff.


	6. Sleepless

**Lords of War**

**Chapter 6:** Sleepless

* * *

Sakura looked out at the sizeable compound that housed the bulk of Konohagakure's power with no small amount of wonder. The fence was topped with barbed wire, motion-sensitive pads lay camouflaged at the base of the barrier and her trained green eyes could pick out the muzzles of the turrets whose barrels were cleverly concealed by greenery.

"Oi, Sakura-chan," Naruto called out, his insistent tone jolting her out of her thoughts with a blink, "we're here. Let's go."

"You really live here, Naruto?" she asked as she got out of the car, her eyes still scanning the surroundings as she spoke. "This place is huge!"

"It has to be, for what we do around here," Naruto replied, the tone of his voice still stoic and worlds apart from his usual clownish demeanor. "C'mon, I'll show you to the boss' office. I'm sure he wants to give you his condolences."

"The boss?" Sakura echoed in confusion, before she stopped walking altogether and gave Naruto her best attempt at a glare.

"Damn it, Naruto," she said, "what the hell is going on?"

"There're things that Naruto has to keep hidden about himself for his own safety," Kakashi broke in, rescuing his adopted son from being forced to continue the conversation. "The most important of these is the fact that he's a member of a clan of Yakuza, Sakura."

"What!?" she exclaimed, her fatigue forgotten momentarily as it was replaced by a surge of shock. "Yakuza? You mean you—you kill people?"

"Only if it can't be avoided, Sakura-chan," Naruto parried smoothly as the soldiers and the rescued heiress reached the doors of the compound and the steel slabs opened with a grinding creak. "I might be a mobster, but I'm not an axe-crazy murderer."

Kotetsu, Izumo, Genma, Hayate, Anko and Asuma entered the Hokage's chamber first to deliver their report, while Kakashi hung back with Naruto and Sakura.

"You all right, Naruto?" the older soldier asked, and all he got in return was a dismissive shrug.

"I'll live," Naruto said after a beat. "If you look after anyone, it should be Anko. She's had a rougher night than most of us, no question."

"True enough," Kakashi agreed, his brow furrowing with worry over the state of his friend. Orochimaru had been enough of a bastard to shoot her up with heroin again, and seeing as the one person who had been able to calm her down in the past was absolutely nowhere to be seen it was quite possible that she would go back to using for good if someone didn't watch her very, very carefully.

"So I guess now I know where most of my father's guns went off to," Sakura said after a few moments had passed in silence, her gaze drifting over the weapons holstered at both Naruto and Kakashi's hips. Naruto's eyebrows shot up at the implication of her words, and he spoke.

"You knew what your dad did this whole time?" he asked incredulously, and Sakura simply nodded. "Why didn't you say something, Sakura-chan? We could've had so much more to talk about—"

Naruto almost swallowed his tongue as he abruptly cut off his words. Kakashi had to fight to keep down a snicker that threatened to escape him, and Sakura herself quickly changed topics before things got even more awkward.

"What're you doing using this piece of crap for a gun?" she asked, reaching over and un-holstering Naruto's pistol before he could so much as sputter in protest. "This model's so outdated I can't believe it's not rusting over. Do you have any idea how often this thing stovepipes, you idiot?! You could have died earlier!"

Naruto was taken aback by the sudden reprimand, but as he recovered his expression of surprise shifted into a smug smirk.

"And you would have cared if I _had_ been hurt, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura had her fist cocked back and was about to slug Naruto across the jaw when the doors to the Hokage's chambers swung open and the first wave of soldiers exited, splitting off to their own quarters and making way for the waiting trio to enter. Kakashi and Naruto flanked Sakura, who walked a step behind them.

"Ah, there you are," the Third said affably as they entered, addressing all three. His eyes, however, were on Sakura and Sakura alone, intense yet sympathetic. "I hope I didn't make you wait too long."

"Not at all, Hokage-sama," Kakashi answered swiftly, before taking a step to the side. "May I introduce—"

"Sakura Haruno," the Third finished for his soldier. "A pleasure to finally meet you, young lady. I am filled with regret that it must come at such a dark time, however. You have my sympathies; your father was a great man indeed."

"Thank you, sir," Sakura replied with a short bow. "I truly do appreciate your saving me, and your hospitality."

"Nonsense," the Third parried with a wave of his hand, blowing a puff of smoke from his pipe. "It was the least we could do, considering what your father did for us. Consider yourself at home, Miss Haruno. Namikaze," he continued, switching his tone seamlessly from paternal to authoritative, "please see to it that Sakura finds her quarters without incident while I receive Kakashi's report. She will be staying in the empty room next to Anko's."

"Of course, sir," Naruto replied crisply, turning and leaving the room while Sakura waited a few beats and then followed behind him. By the time they reached the staircase the two were walking side by side, settled into an uneasy silence. Naruto could tell from the slump in Sakura's shoulders and the unfocused look in her eyes that the reality of her father's death was finally, truly hitting her, but he made no move to comfort the grieving girl. The young Namikaze knew from personal experience that this kind of mourning was best left to the person who was bereaved, and to them alone; if she wanted some form of solace, Sakura would come to him.

"Here we go," he said quietly as the duo came to a halt in front of the wooden door that led into Sakura's new room. "Anko's gonna be out of commission for a while if I had to guess, and Neji gets cranky when someone wakes him up in the middle of the night, so if you need anything, I'd say your best bet would be to ask Kiba; he's three doors down, to the right."

In normal circumstances Sakura might have been shocked to hear her classmates' names rattled off among the ranks of Yakuza, but her mind was halfway to brain dead and she simply let the news wash over her like water.

"Thank you, Naruto," she said, her voice as sincere as the young soldier had ever heard it before.

Naruto hadn't been expecting to ever hear those words leave Sakura's mouth, however, and he had no idea how to react to them. So he simply stood stock-still like a statue, inwardly cursing his inaction but unable to make his hands so much as budge. Sakura saw all of this unfold and smiled, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"I'll fix up that old hunk of rust for you tomorrow, I promise," she said, "but I really need to get some sleep right now."

The blond-haired yakuza snapped out of his stasis and nodded, hastily bidding Sakura good night and walking down the hall. A few steps later he stopped, speaking to her without turning around.

"If you need it," he said, "the shower's down the hall and to the left."

A few footfalls later and Naruto was gone, leaving Sakura alone in the doorway. She smiled to herself and stepped backwards into the room, _her_ room, closing the door shut with a soft click. A few heartbeats later she was on the bed and snoring softly, having fallen sound asleep.

Naruto had no such luck, however, and after rolling fitfully back and forth on his bed for an hour accepted the fact that he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight, either. Padding softly down the stairs, he resisted the impulse to stop on the second floor and check in on Sakura before continuing on down to the ground floor of the complex. To his surprise, he found a familiar face waiting for him on a nearby couch, his eyes bloodshot.

"What're you doing here, Shikamaru?" Naruto asked through a small yawn, rubbing his own hazy blue eyes and not even bothering to ask why Temari of Sunagakure was seated next to him. "Don't you have your own place to crash?"

"I need to talk to you," Shikamaru said seriously, in a tone that earned Naruto's attention immediately, "about Sasuke."

* * *

Anko Mitarashi gave one final grunt as her wrapped fist slammed into the punching bag, the lack of a glove amplifying the recoil and sending a shock trailing back up her arm that wasn't entirely unwelcome. From the moment the Konoha medics had slammed her full of adrenaline, she had wanted to feel something like that again. There had been a time when the numbing effect of the drug she had so often used had been a welcome escape for her, but now that sense of detachment provoked nothing but disgust in her thoughts.

Unwrapping the cloth with a sigh and ignoring the splotches of red that stained the otherwise pure white, Anko slung her towel over her shoulder and left the exercise area. She was wiping the sweat from her forehead as she walked into her own room, and didn't realize she wasn't alone until the person seated in the chair in the corner spoke out, breaking the silence with a gentle strength that only he possessed.

"Hello, Anko."

Her copper eyes widened in shock as Anko's gaze snapped over to her unexpected visitor, the pale moonlight illuminating the face that she hadn't seen in years outside of her dreams.

"Itachi…?" she breathed out, scarcely believing what was right in front of her. "What are you doing here?"

He said nothing at first, rising from his seat and taking a few steps towards his old lover.

"I heard you were part of a team that went after Orochimaru earlier tonight," he said softly, closing to within arm's length as his coal-black eyes shifted to look at the fresh needle mark on Anko's shoulder with concern. "I wanted to make sure that you were all right."

"How did you know about that?" she asked, before noticing the red dragon that adorned the sleeve of his jacket and shifting her tone as her eyes narrowed. "I assume your lackeys tipped you off?"

"Who told me is irrelevant," Itachi insisted, bringing one of his hands up and placing it gently under Anko's chin, tilting her face upwards. "What matters is that you promise me you won't dig out your spare set of needles from underneath the loose floorboard I'm standing on top of right now."

"Even if I had any desire to, which I don't," Anko pressed, fighting to keep from reacting physically to Itachi's touch, "if I had to guess, you've already destroyed them."

"That's true," the Uchiha acquiesced, "but hearing you say that is more important to me than anything I could do on your behalf. This is your battle to fight now, Anko."

"You think I've forgotten that?" she asked, her voice hardening into a restrained growl. "Those were the last words you ever said to me, before you left Konoha and never came back!"

Itachi's eyes flickered briefly with the barest hint of a smile, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared.

"I'm here now, am I not?" he parried, slowly and deliberately closing the meager distance between them. Part of Anko wanted to pull back, to not get drawn into those dark pools where she knew nothing but pain and emotional anxiety waited, but as one of his lean, muscular arms wrapped itself around her waist Anko felt herself instead drawn into Itachi's embrace as their lips met for their first kiss in years.

But just as she was just beginning to slip fully into the kiss, Anko felt the warmth of her lover abruptly back away from her. Opening her eyes slowly and unable to keep a look of confusion and disappointment from showing through in her gaze, Anko barely bit back a quiet moan of longing and spoke.

"Why?" she asked, and Itachi's dark eyes were full of regret as he backed slowly towards the window, opened it and perched himself gracefully on the sill.

"This isn't what either of us needs right now, Anko," he answered, and she could pick out the twin pangs of desire and apology in his voice as clear as day. "Your emotions have to be calm, and as long as I'm here that will be impossible."

"Don't you get it, you moron?" she hissed, closing her eyes tightly against the tears that threatened to spill out from the corners of her eyes. "The only times I've been in my right mind is when you're around!"

When Anko opened her eyes, however, Itachi was gone and the window was open. The wind whispered to her gently through the opening, but she slammed it shut and gave a small wretch. The tears traced thin lines down her cheeks, and this time Anko made no effort to stop them.

* * *

Itachi had no trouble slipping through the blatant holes in the formation of the security guards he had once been in charge of training; the next time he saw Anko, he would have to tell her to do a much better job filling his shoes unless she wanted to see Konoha's headquarters burning to the ground one day.

If she didn't rip his head off first thing the next time they saw each other, that was.

He had slipped deep into the trees surrounding the complex before Itachi halted his strides, addressing the two figures waiting off to the side in the shadows of the giant oaks.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked with carefully measured sting, and one of the two other members of the Red Dragon Crime Syndicate present smiled.

"Is that any way to address your direct superior, Itachi?" Vicious asked smoothly, and the man to his left chuckled.

"We just wanted to make sure you didn't do anything stupid, Uchiha. I know how you get around that fucking broad."

"Watch your tongue, Hidan," Itachi shot back, "unless you would prefer to lose it?"

"As if you could touch me, Itachi," Hidan spat back, but Vicious stepped in between the two of them and gave them both a gaze that issued a warning as clearly as a shout.

"Enough; we don't have time for this," Vicious spoke after a moment. "The boss wants to see us. All of us."

"Why?" Itachi asked, but the katana-wielding Yakuza merely shrugged.

"I have no idea," Vicious admitted. "I doubt the old man even told Spike, and he's practically his right hand. But what I do know is that it's unwise to keep him waiting, so let's get moving."

Itachi nodded shortly, and the trio vanished into the night without so much as a rustle amongst the leaves they ran upon.

* * *

**A/N:** Whew, I'm not dead. Sorry for the long, _long_ delay in getting this chapter out, but I wanted to finish up my other major project going on before I returned to this one. Hope you enjoyed the chapter all the same, and **please review** to let me know what you thought!


	7. The Dawn

**Lords of War**

**Chapter 7: **The Dawn

* * *

Sakura woke up slowly, the gentle warmth of the sun shining through the window and onto her face pulling her out of her dreams. For a few moments she didn't know where she was, until the events of the previous night surged back up into her memory with ruthless clarity. She sighed, rolling over to face the ceiling with an unfocused look in her eyes. She was homeless, both of her parents were dead, somehow she'd wound up living in a compound full of yakuza and she still had a Statistics project to get done by Friday. With Naruto, of all people.

Naruto.

She didn't even know what to think of that kid anymore. One day he was a total buffoon, and the next he was a hardened gangster? The sharp shift in his personality and its many implications were just flat out confounding, and Sakura already had enough things in her life that made her head pound just thinking about them. Still, the memory of their accidental standoff the previous night still lingered in Sakura's thoughts, and it didn't seem to want to budge no matter how hard she tried to get rid of it.

"God damn it," she growled, wishing that she still had her punching bag. But since there was nothing she could beat on until her knuckles got sore, the young gunsmith decided to settle for a hot shower instead. That would at least give her time to sort out _some_ of her issues; the rest would probably need a few solid months of therapy.

The warm water served to ease some of the more stubborn kinks out of Sakura's muscles and lightened the pain in her healing leg, but the soothing sensation also pulled her gently back into the place between sleeping and waking as her eyes drifted shut. With nothing in front of her but darkness, Sakura's thoughts returned to badger her in full force.

She didn't really know what to think of most of her classmates anymore; how she was going to interact with them normally at school, she had no idea. Neji was hard enough to talk to normally, but now that she knew he had taken the lives of others, it would be almost impossible to exchange small talk without it becoming heinously awkward.

But then again, Sakura told herself as she stepped out from the shower and wrapped herself in a towel, it wasn't as if _her_ life was exactly normal, either. After all, how many 18-year-old girls knew how to dismantle and reassemble Kalashnikovs blindfolded, let alone use one effectively in a firefight?

Accepting the fact that her life was now beyond fucked-up and would probably stay that way forever, Sakura sighed, got changed into a clean pair of clothes and trudged down the stairs to grab some much-needed coffee. When she padded bleary-eyed into the kitchen, though, Sakura saw that she'd been beaten to the punch. Naruto and Shikamaru were both sitting at the large table and staring absently at the tablecloth, and there was another girl with them who Sakura didn't recognize. As the pink-haired young woman went to pour herself a cup from the pot, Naruto looked over and gave her a tired smile.

"'Morning, Sakura-chan," he half-mumbled. "What're you doing up s'early?"

"I could ask you the same question, Naruto," she replied evenly as she sat down, giving her other classmate a warm smile.

"Hey, Shikamaru."

"Yo," the genius replied aloofly, not saying anything more.

"I don't think we've met," Sakura spoke to the other girl sitting across from her, extending her hand in greeting. "I'm Sakura Haruno."

"Temari," the blonde-haired girl replied shortly, shaking hands with a surprisingly firm grip. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Sakura said, before taking a sip of her coffee and letting the warm liquid begin to wake her up. After a few minutes, the tense looks the other three people at the table were exchanging became too much for Sakura to bear, and she spoke.

"Look, if you guys have something you need to say, just say it," she said forcefully. "I know what you do for a living at this point, after all. Not much use in keeping secrets."

Shikamaru shifted his dark eyes over to Sakura, his gaze holding her attention in a vise with its intensity.

"That may be true," he allowed, "and in most cases, I'd agree with you. But this is something that concerns someone we happen to attend school with, and I don't know if you'd be able to keep from tipping him off that we suspect him. If he knew we were beginning to monitor him, there's no telling what he would do."

Sakura's eyes narrowed, her early-morning temper combining with irritation at Shikamaru's patronizing attitude to give her voice a sharply cutting edge.

"It's Sasuke-kun, isn't it?" she asked with certainty in her tone. "The guy you were talking about. The one you're suspecting."

Naruto's eyes widened at the declaration, looking at the girl next to him like she'd suddenly turned into a ghost.

"How'd you know that, Sakura-chan?"

The young woman's mouth twisted into a frown at Naruto's disbelief, and Naruto almost shivered as he felt the hairs on the back of his next stand up in silent, frantic warning.

"Because of all the people we go to school with who I might have picked to be in the yakuza," Sakura shot back, "Sasuke-kun is the only one I would have chosen. He's so stoic that I doubt killing someone would faze him very much, if at all. Just because I'm a girl, that doesn't automatically make me stupid, Naruto!"

Shamed into silence, the young soldier could only mutter an apologetic "I never said it did," before he slumped over onto his elbows and said no more. Sakura immediately felt bad for lashing out so hard, but a chuckle from Temari across the table distracted her from her guilt.

"Ooh, I like this one, Shikamaru," the Sand soldier said with an approving smile. "You plan on keeping her around for the long haul?"

Shikamaru did nothing more than nod at the question, silently wishing for some peace and quiet so he could get back to figuring out the riddle Sasuke Uchiha represented. If his suspicions were correct, Sasuke was a potentially catastrophic security risk. But Shikamaru didn't want to say anything unless he was sure, either; if he both failed to convince Asuma that Sasuke was dangerous _and_ tipped off Sasuke that he knew something was up, it would be too complete of a failure for the strategist to bear.

"I don't see why you're stressing out so much over this, Shikamaru," Temari broke into his thoughts with her usual directness, as if she was reading them as they passed though his mind. "From what you've told me and Naruto, you have a solid case for Sasuke to at least be watched closely, if nothing else. It's not like you're trying to get him thrown in jail; just get him tailed by one of your ANBU spooks in case he tries to pull something."

Shikamaru was silent for a few moments, but then his head inclined slightly in the smallest of nods.

"That could work," he admitted, "but Sasuke's not an idiot. If he picks up a tail, he's going to notice it and react accordingly."

"Not if it doesn't look like he's being tailed, though."

All eyes at the table turned to Sakura as she spoke up, and after a moment she continued, her tone lively for the first time since her kidnapping. Naruto raised a curious eyebrow, trying to figure out where she was going with this and failing.

"What do you mean, Sakura-chan?"

"I mean that if someone tails him who he doesn't suspect to be a tail, he'll never think to watch his back, Naruto."

Shikamaru put the implication together in his mind and gave Sakura a focused look again, trying to gauge the depth of her determination. She didn't flinch, and after a few tense heartbeats the strategist nodded. Sakura allowed herself a small, determined smile at the gesture of acceptance, and Naruto finally caught on to what had passed unspoken between her and Shikamaru.

"Sakura-chan," he said seriously, his voice as stony as it had been the previous night at Orochimaru's hideout, "don't tell me you're thinking of spying on Sasuke yourself."

Sakura returned the hard gaze Naruto was giving her with one of her own, completely unwilling to back down.

"If I don't do this, Naruto," she replied, "who will? Sasuke knows for a fact that all of you are yakuza; I mean Jesus, he practically _lives_ with you guys!"

"But now he knows that you know who he is, Sakura!" Naruto snapped back, the friction between the two of them causing Shikamaru and Temari to feel more and more awkward by the moment. "Why _wouldn't_ he get suspicious if you started following him around everywhere and prodding him for information?"

"Because even if I know something about what you guys do, there's no way he'd ever think you would trust me with information that was this important. If I don't do this, who else possibly can?"

"If he finds out what you're doing, Sakura-chan," Naruto answered, his eyes softening slightly in a last-ditch attempt to get her to back down, "he will _kill_ you. Do you really understand that?"

Sakura heard the genuine concern in Naruto's voice and was moved by it, but still refused to back down. If Sasuke was connected at all to Orochimaru, this was something she had to do. Not just for Naruto and the people he considered his brothers-in-arms, but for herself as well. A gaping hole felt like it had opened up in her chest at the death of her only remaining parent, and Sakura needed closure more than anything.

She nodded. She knew that Naruto could see she meant it, and the defeated look that came into his eyes then almost made her take back her words. That train of thought was cut off, though, by the arrival of an unexpected visitor.

"If she really wants to do it, Naruto," Kakashi's calm voice came floating over as the man himself walked into the room, "you know you won't be able to stop her."

"Kakashi-san, sir—" Shikamaru began hastily as he rose to his feet, but Kakashi stopped him with a lazy wave of his hand.

"Calm down, Shikamaru; it's too early in the morning for formalities. Temari of Sunagakure, how nice to see you again," he said, shifting his one good eye over to regard the princess of the Sand. "I assume this means that your father has finally decided to move against us in force, and has begun making preparations for it; am I wrong?"

Temari was taken aback at first by Kakashi's insight and bluntness, but nodded after a moment.

"I was going to deliver the news to the Lord Hokage last night, but you all seemed rather preoccupied."

"To say the least," Kakashi replied tiredly, pouring himself a cup of coffee and taking a seat at the table next to Naruto.

"Now, Shikamaru," he said, his casual demeanor shifting entirely to a serious one that showed why he was one of Konoha's top Lieutenants, "tell me from the beginning. Why exactly do you suspect Sasuke might be working against us?"

Shikamaru hesitated at the question, frowning.

"If you're afraid of casting suspicion on an innocent person, Shikamaru," Kakashi said with mild encouragement, "don't be. No one sitting at this table is innocent, much less anyone in this building.

"But before you start," Kakashi continued, looking over at Naruto and Sakura, "I think these two need to get going. Shikamaru's classes don't begin for another few hours, but I doubt Iruka would react kindly to you skipping out on his English Lit class entirely, Naruto. Sakura, how's your leg doing?"

"It should be fine," the young woman answered, testing the healing limb with a bit of pressure and feeling only the slightest sting of pain. "Your medics really did a good job treating it. To be honest, I'm more worried about dealing with the onslaught of sympathy from everyone today. No doubt my father's death made the front page of every paper in town."

Kakashi shook his head at that, taking another sip of coffee before speaking.

"If I had to guess, Orochimaru ordered the body burned or otherwise disposed of. He's not very fond of leaving traces in his wake."

Sakura nodded before getting up from her seat, feeling more depressed than relieved. It was nice that she wouldn't have everyone offering her their forced sympathies, but the idea of her father's body being impromptu cremated or dumped in a river somewhere was a sad end for someone as nice as him to see.

"Well then, we'll be off," Sakura said as she half-pulled a lethargic Naruto to his feet, looking back at Temari as she left and smiling.

"It was nice to meet you, Temari," she said, and then a moment later both Sakura and Naruto were around the corner and gone. The silence lasted until Temari decided to break it, her dark green eyes still looking intently at the place Sakura had been standing when she'd wished her well.

"She's a nice kid, that one," Temari said, her voice tinged with sadness. "Too nice, from the looks of it."

Kakashi just chuckled, shaking his head at the Suna princess' concern.

"You were too young to remember Sakura's mother before she died, Temari," he said, "so you'll just have to take my word for it when I tell you that Rin Haruno was one of the strongest people I have ever known. And if Sakura takes after one of her parents, it's most definitely her mother."

Temari nodded, her misgivings assuaged somewhat by Kakashi's words. She was still saddened that another person had been drawn into the inescapable grip of the yakuza clans, but at least it seemed like it was the path Sakura had chosen for herself.

"Temari," Kakashi said pointedly, as if he was repeating himself and she just hadn't heard him the first time. She blinked and re-focused, and the Konoha soldier continued. "If you want to go speak with the Hokage, he's waiting in his office."

Taking that as her cue to leave, the Suna princess nodded, rose and left, sparing a single glance back at Shikamaru as she did so. Once they were alone, Shikamaru took the initiative and spoke to his superior.

"I think Sasuke might be dealing behind our backs, sir."

To Shikamaru's continued relief, Kakashi didn't immediately question the credibility of the claim, instead staying quiet for several moments before saying anything.

"And what do you have as evidence to back this up, Shikamaru?" he asked at last. "You're more-or-less accusing Sasuke of treason; that's not something you do without justification."

"When we fought those soldiers from the Sound," Shikamaru began, forcing down the memories that threatened to return to his mind's eye, "Sasuke ran off to deal with a thug one of the Sound people called 'Kabuto'. He broke formation in the middle of a high-intensity firefight, putting both himself and the rest of us at risk by going after Kabuto alone. The fact that Kiba almost died before Sasuke saved him is proof enough of that, sir."

Kakashi finished his cup of coffee with a sigh, pausing to think over what he'd just been told.

"But you said that Sasuke saved Kiba's life, Shikamaru," the Lieutenant said. "Why would he bother doing that, if his true loyalty lay with the Sound and, presumably, Orochimaru?"

"I'm getting there, sir," Shikamaru rebutted, closing his eyes for a moment as he remembered how Sasuke looked after coming back from fighting Kabuto. "Sasuke wasn't short of breath at all when he showed up again, and he didn't have a mark on him. I don't care how good the Uchiha are supposed to be at combat; someone engaged in a no-holds-barred duel doesn't come out without a scratch. And if Sasuke had been exerting himself even a bit over that long a period of time, he would have been tired enough to be sweating, at the very least.

Which leads me to believe, sir," Shikamaru finished as he came to the summation of his proof, "that Sasuke and this 'Kabuto' weren't fighting each other from the start, but were talking instead. And if that was the case, I have to assume that Sasuke was either passing information to Kabuto or Kabuto was giving it to Sasuke. Which would also account for Sasuke killing the one Sound warrior that was left alive: no doubt had we taken him in for questioning, he would have probably ratted Sasuke out in exchange for amnesty. Sasuke was just eliminating any potential threats, sir."

Kakashi fell silent again as Shikamaru took a deep breath to calm down and finished his own cup of coffee, wondering what his superior was thinking.

"Well, I can't argue with those points, Shikamaru," the Lieutenant said after a moment. "It sounds like Sasuke's definitely up to something, and whether it's a light or heavy matter doesn't make a difference. If he lived here in the compound, it would be much easier to keep an eye on him; as it stands, however, we're going to have to rely on Sakura to keep us informed of Sasuke's movements. But I have to request that you not make any moves against him, Shikamaru; not until we have irrefutable evidence against Sasuke."

Shikamaru nodded at the order, hearing the finality in Kakashi's tone and rising.

"Of course, sir," he said with a nod. "I agree completely. For now, it's enough to just keep an eye on him; I only wanted to make sure you higher-ups knew we might have a rat in the ranks."

"I understand completely," Kakashi assured the strategist with a nod, "and your work is, as always, deeply appreciated. It's good to know Konoha has people like you waiting in the wings, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru gave a half bow this time, unused to such unvarnished praise from anyone who wasn't his mother.

"You're too kind, sir," he replied evenly, walking towards the room's exit. "I'm just doing my duty. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I should go check in on Temari."

Kakashi nodded shortly, before turning his eye back to the window looking out over the forest behind the compound. The idea that Sasuke was a traitor was a disturbing one, even if it wasn't that surprising. As one of the last living Uchiha, he certainly did have cause to resent Konoha; at the same time, though, one of the last things that Naruto's father had said to Kakashi before he'd been assassinated still rung in his ears.

"_That boy is living proof that this war will not last forever, Kakashi,"_ Minato had said. _"The Uchiha High Council may have plotted to war against us, but the wishes of the few are not always the wishes of the many. Sasuke will stand as inspiration to others that vengeance is not always necessary, and that old grudges can and will fade in time. Remember that, Kakashi, and guard that child as well as you can."_

Sighing, Kakashi wearily closed his eye and, for the first time since Rin's death all those years ago, felt well and truly lost.

"Minato-sensei, Rin," he said quietly, "what should I do?"

* * *

Several hours after leaving the Konoha compound, Itachi Uchiha, Vicious and Hidan finally reached the entrance to the building they were looking for just as the sun began to rise. It was a small, dilapidated high-rise building in a backwater neighborhood that was close to becoming a ghost town: the last place anyone would ever think to look for the people the three soldiers were rendezvousing with.

The three men walked silently into an elevator as its rusty doors screeched open to admit them, and Hidan reached over to press the 'Floor 2' and 'Floor 7' buttons simultaneously. They both lit up, but instead of rising, the elevator groaned and began to sink downwards.

"We really need to get this fuckin' thing fixed," Hidan groused, looking at the inside of the elevator with pure disgust. "'Cause if it breaks down one of these days and I fall to my death in it, I'm gonna come back as a pissed-off fucking ghost and haunt you bastards for the rest of time."

"Cease your whining, Hidan," Itachi said pointedly, giving his comrade a narrow look. "I'm in no mood for it."

Hidan chuckled derisively, smirking in the face of the Uchiha's simmering anger.

"Oh, someone's upset that they couldn't squeeze out a quickie from their girl before leaving last night," he crowed. "Don't worry, Itachi, she hasn't lost any of her spark over the years; I can tell you from experience that Anko's still quite the screw."

Itachi knew that Hidan was lying and just trying to get in his head, but the fact that it was still working despite that put Itachi on edge. How was he expected to maintain his calm in actual danger situations when even a casual mention of Anko got under his skin? If he didn't figure out a way to deal with it, and soon, it was going to become a problem. But the kiss he and Anko had shared earlier had stirred something up within Itachi that had been dormant for a very long time, and it wasn't going to settle down any time soon.

The door to the elevator opened with a slow whine, drawing the troubled Uchiha out of his thoughts and back into the present. The room that the trio stepped out into was well lit, white-walled and barren save for a long table that dominated the middle of it. Several figures sat on either side of the table, their one common link being the red dragon embroidered onto the breasts of their black suit jackets.

"It's about time the three of you came back," a man with black hair and sickly green, bloodshot eyes spoke up, drawing a spiteful grunt from Hidan.

"Shut the hell up, Kakuzu," he spat. "You want us to get back faster next time, don't make us walk half of the fucking way back here before we reach a car, you miserly piece of shit!"

"It was too dangerous to send a vehicle too deep into Konohagakure's territory, Hidan," Kakuzu shot back levelly, "and you know it."

"Jesus, would the two of you just stop talking already?" a younger man with blond hair and blue eyes joined in, annoyed. "One of these days, I'm just gonna blow both of you to smithereens, seriously."

"I'm with Deidara on this one," a man with short red hair and bright, jade-green eyes spoke up, "as much as it shocks and offends me personally to say it. Now is not the time or place for your childish bickering."

"That includes you, Sasori," a woman with an authoritative voice and long blond hair pulled into two ponytails spoke up from the head of the table. The room fell silent as Itachi, Hidan and Vicious took their seats, and then the soldiers at the table all looked to the head, where two people sat side-by-side: the commanders of the Red Dragon syndicate, and also the leaders of this elite group of 12 men and women. The Red Dragon's paramilitary wing:

Akatsuki.

"Now," the woman who had spoken continued, while the man with long, white hair next to her remained silent, "as I am sure all of you are aware, Orochimaru has begun to move in earnest, and is currently negotiating an alliance with Sunagakure."

All eyes in the room turned to Sasori at that, but the former legend among Suna's ranks said nothing.

"Of course," the woman said, "we cannot let this happen; Orochimaru is manageable on his own, but with enough power behind him he could very well become a threat to us and our operations. And that's not the only thing we have to be concerned about, either."

At this the woman fell silent, and the man next to her proceeded.

"I have received word from a reliable source," he said gravely, "that Madara Uchiha is not as dead as we had been led to believe."

The assembled members of Akatsuki went rigid at that, the sudden tension in the air palpable.

"The army of the Uchiha Clan must not be allowed to reunite, under any circumstances," the man continued forcefully. "Their High Council is decimated, true; but they are by no means leaderless, and now the fires of vengeance will burn all the brighter in their hearts. We must strike this pestilence at its root, before it spreads and plunges the Clans into another bloody territory war.

"To combat both of these threats simultaneously, we have decided to split Akatsuki into two groups: one will travel with me to the area surrounding Konohagakure, where Madara is likely to strike first. The second group will travel to Sunagakure with Tsunade, in order to crush Orochimaru once and for all. Any objections?"

The reply came as a unified silence, and the man at the head of the table smiled.

"That's good to hear," Jiraiya said, a spark back in his eyes that had all-but faded after so many years of waiting silent underground.

He just hoped they weren't already too late.

* * *

**A/N: **Holy shit, it's an update! Words cannot express how sorry I am that this has taken so long to post, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Life's been really busy lately, and the fact that I'm studying abroad this year doesn't help things. Hopefully, though, with first semester done and the second not yet begun, I'll have some more time to write now.

On to comments about the actual chapter! Yes, you read that right: Jiraiya and Tsunade are the heads of this universe's Akatsuki, which is in turn part of the Red Dragon syndicate. How and why this is the case will be explained in due time, so don't freak out.

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter despite its lateness, and **please review**! Reviews inspire me to write faster, and keep me from getting lazy and letting stories lie still for too long when I think no one's reading them. Which is what happens when no one reviews. Hopefully next chapter will come out faster than this one did, too.

Jazz


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